(May 22, 2018) — Coming in with their sights set on ending their rivals' record winning streak, the York Revolution fell behind early and lost 7-1 to the Lancaster Barnstormers on Tuesday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium in their series opener. The Revs fall back to .500 at 10-10 with the loss, while Lancaster improves to a league-best 17-5, setting a new franchise record with their 11th consecutive win. The 2018 "War of the Roses" series is now tied, 4-4.
The Revs threatened to get on the board first when Michael Burgess led off the top of the second inning with an opposite-field bloop double off Barnstormers starter Nate Reed to beat the shift. But with two outs, Luis Cruz was robbed of extra bases on a fly ball to deep right-center that Lancaster center fielder Darian Sandford ran down approaching the fence to keep the game scoreless.
Instead it was the Barnstormers who scored first, and they did so in the bottom of the second. After Revs starter Mitch Atkins retired the first two batters of the inning, he walked Carlos Garcia who stole second base. Garcia came around to score on Vladimir Frias’ RBI single to right to give the Barnstormers a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth, the Barnstormers scored six runs on four hits and sent 10 men to the plate to break open the game. Ryan Casteel hit a three-run home run over the left field wall to drive in half of the runs in the inning. The Barnstormers added three more with two outs thanks to Rico Noel’s RBI single and Tyler Bortnick’s two-RBI single, giving them a 7-0 advantage.
Atkins was lifted after 3.2 innings, charged with seven runs, but only three were earned, as the Revs committed two errors in the Barnstormers’ six-run fourth.
Reed dominated through five shutout innings for the Stormers, picking up six strikeouts while allowing only four hits.
The Revs broke the shutout in the sixth when Burgess hit a line-drive solo homer over the wall in right field off Lancaster reliever Jesus Sanchez to make it a 7-1 game.
The Revs bullpen was a bright spot in the loss, as three relievers combined to throw 4.1 shutout innings. Lefty Pat McCoy made his team debut and worked 2.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, while retiring seven of the eight batters he faced. Joe Van Meter made his return from the Disabled List and logged a scoreless seventh inning, and Zac Treece worked a scoreless eighth inning, rolling an inning-ended 1-2-3 double play to get out of a bases loaded jam.
Atkins (0-3) suffered the loss while Reed (4-0) picked up the win, his third of the season in three starts against the Revs.
The Revs (10-10) and Barnstormers (17-5) continue their three-game series Wednesday at 7 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 1350, woyk1350.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK 1350 on YouTube beginning at 6:40 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Michael Marcantonini on the call.
Story by Michael Marcantonini
Broadcaster/Media Relations Asst.
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