(June 25, 2023 – Frederick, Md.): The York Revolution blasted five home runs and Nick Raquet grinded out eight strong innings in a 16-5 blowout victory over the Spire City Ghost Hounds on Sunday afternoon at Nymeo Field. The win snaps a six-game slide for the Revs who pull back into sole possession of first place in the North Division over both Long Island and Southern Maryland with the victory.
Coming off a pair of crushing defeats in a doubleheader the day before, York put the pain in the rearview mirror right away as Jacob Rhinesmith launched a solo homer to right in the top of the first, and Drew Mendoza lined a two-run shot to right field as the Revs helped themselves to a quick 3-0 lead.
The Hounds got on the board in their half of the first, scoring a run on three singles with Jose Marmolejos bounding a high chopper over first to plate the run.
Troy Stokes Jr. tagged a solo homer to left center in the top of the third, increasing York’s lead to 4-1.
Spire City cut it close, scoring a run in the third on a Raudy Read single to left and another run in the fourth as Leobaldo Cabrera took over the league lead with his 18th home run of the year on a solo shot to left, drawing the Hounds within 4-3.
Spire City starter David Kubiak (4-3) had retired eight straight before Stokes Jr. led off the sixth with a single to left and stole second. Mendoza walked to put two aboard, and two batters later, Nellie Rodriguez crushed a three-run homer, 450 feet to dead center, cushioning the lead at 7-3. It was Rodriguez’ ninth homer of the year and 60th of his Revs career, moving past Chris Nowak for fourth on the franchise’s all-time list.
Raquet’s final four innings were scoreless as the southpaw set down nine straight after the Cabrera long ball. Raquet (6-4) allowed three runs while scattering 10 hits in eight innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out four in a workhorse effort that lasted 119 pitches, tying the highest total by any hurler in an Atlantic League game this season. It also marked his third time in 11 starts working eight innings this season. There have only been eight performances of eight innings across the league; Raquet has three of those and is the only pitcher to do it more than once. The clutch effort came on the heels of a lengthy doubleheader that taxed the Revs bullpen the day before.
After Jhon Nunez added an RBI single through the middle of a drawn-in infield to make it an 8-3 game in the eighth, the Revs turned it into a laugher with an eight-run ninth. Mendoza picked up his third RBI on a base hit to center. Rodriguez tallied his season-high-tying fourth RBI on a bases loaded hit by pitch. Trey Martin plopped a two-run bloop single to right. Nunez drove in his second run and his 14th in the last eight games (seventh in two games) on a ground out. Alejandro Rivero legged out an infield single to prolong the inning for Trent Giambrone who made sure all nine Revs batters had a hit and either scored or drove in a run with a three-run homer to left, matching Rodriguez for the team lead with his ninth of the year as the lead exploded to 16-3.
Cabrera connected on his second homer of the game, a two-run shot to left off reliever Nelvin Correa in the bottom of the ninth, closing out the scoring.
Notes: Rodriguez joins Telvin Nash (104), Melky Mesa (74), and Andres Perez (66) in the Revs’ 60-homer club. Stokes Jr.’s stolen base in the sixth inning was his 12th of the year and 43rd of his Revs career, tying Sean Smith for 10th on the franchise’s all-time list. Stokes Jr. scored a Revs season-high four runs, the most by a Revs hitter in exactly one year to the day (Yefri Perez, 6/25/22 vs Staten Island) while his 3-for-4 effort makes him 7-for-9 over the past two games, his second two-game stretch with seven hits in nine at-bats in the past two weeks. Mendoza has 28 RBI in his last 23 games. The Revs return home to WellSpan Park to host the Staten Island FerryHawks on Tuesday in a twi-night doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. York righty J.T. Hintzen (4-3, 6.38) starts the opener with RHP Carlos Espinal (3-1, 2.45) scheduled to get the ball in the nightcap. It is Time Travel Tuesday (Jurassic Era), Silver Sluggers presented by WellSpan Sports Medicine, and Hunger Free Tuesday presented by Member’s 1st Federal Credit Union. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
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