(October 3, 2021 – York, Pa.): The York Revolution pulled off a pair of improbable comeback victories including the largest comeback in franchise history, sweeping a doubleheader against the Gastonia Honey Hunters with 17-16 and 10-9 victories on Sunday at PeoplesBank Park. With the series sweep, the Revs pull into a tie for first place in the Atlantic League North Division with six games to go in the regular season.
The game one victory came from down 12 runs as the Revs set franchise records for biggest comeback victory and highest combined scoring contest all-time. The 12-run comeback occurred three months to the day after the Revs had set the previous record with a 10-run comeback win vs. Lancaster.
Gastonia started off with a bat-around first inning as the first four Honey Hunters batters reached against Revs starter Eduardo Rivera. Alexi Amarista led off the first with a double to the gap in left center. Following the double, Jason Rogers collected an infield hit. Amarista scored the first run on a passed ball with Boog Powell at the plate. Powell scored Rogers on a double to deep center for a 2-0 lead and Joshua Sale walked. With one out, Ryan Cordell walked to load the bases. For a 6-0 advantage, Manuel Geraldo smacked his own double to left center for a pair of runs and Jake Skole belted a triple to deep center for two more runs. On the same play, Skole scored on an error from the Revs outfield for a 7-0 lead after a half inning.
York got a run back in the first at the plate. The Revs loaded the bases with two outs after singles from Jack Kenley and Melky Mesa and a walk to Carlos Franco. Fresh off his 36th birthday, Welington Dotel ripped a base hit to left to put the Revs on the board, 7-1.
In the second, the Honey Hunters continued where they left off an inning earlier. Rogers and Powell posted base hits and for the first run of the inning, Emmanuel Tapia plated Rogers on a bloop single to shallow right center. With two outs, Geraldo drove in his third of the afternoon on a single to right center. After a walk to Skole loaded the bases, Jake Romanski cleared them on a grand slam to left center for a 13-1 Gastonia lead.
York responded in their second, chipping away at the deficit with some home run power. Osmy Gregorio and JC Encarnacion collected back-to-back singles to kick it off. With two outs, Mesa belted his 17th home run of the season to left center for three runs. After a walk to Nellie Rodriguez, Franco crushed a pitch to right for another Revs home run and a 13-6 score as Franco went yard for the third consecutive game.
In the third, the Revs kept picking away at Gastonia’s lead with the long ball. Carlos Castro smashed a leadoff home run inside the foul pole in right to draw York within six, 13-7.
Gastonia got the run right back in the fourth. With one out, Cordell connected on his seventh home run of the year with a shot to left to make it a seven-run game again, 14-7.
In the bottom of the fourth, York put together one of the highest scoring frames in franchise history. The Revs scored 10 runs on five hits and three Gastonia errors to take a 17-14 lead.
It all began with a leadoff single from Rodriguez to center. With one out, Dotel reached on a Gastonia fielding error and Castro followed with a single to left to load the bases. Mirroring the second inning, Gregorio and Encarnacion combined on back-to-back RBI singles for the 14-9 score. After a pitching change from Gastonia, James Harris stepped in and worked a bases loaded walk for the third run of the inning. On a ground ball hit by Kenley, the umpires ruled catcher’s inference on Romanski as Gregorio scored for the 14-11 margin as the bases remained loaded. The offense kept coming as Josue Herrera cracked a pinch-hit RBI single to right, bringing York within two, 14-12. Slimming Gastonia’s lead to one, Rodriguez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in his second plate appearance of the inning. A bases loaded walk to Franco forced a 14-14 tie. After Dotel lined out to Powell in center for the second out, York took a two-run lead, 16-14 on a fielding error by Amarista at second, allowing Castro to reach and Herrera and Rodriguez to score the go-ahead runs. The 10th and final run scored on a wild pitch from Jhonathan Herman that let Franco reach the plate for a 17-14 lead. The 10-run inning was the Revs’ largest since 2014 and tied the third-biggest inning in franchise history. It was the fourth double-digit inning in team history and the second at home, as it represented the Revs’ biggest inning at home since the 2010 season.
Gastonia made it a nail-biter in the seventh. After Amarista worked a leadoff walk, Rogers went yard to left for two, cutting York’s lead to 17-16. Closer Jim Fuller settled in from there setting down his next three for his league-leading 27th save and a Revs Game 1 win.
In the nightcap, the Honey Hunters struck first again with multiple runs in their first inning at the plate.
Reece Hampton singled to right to lead off Gastonia’s offense. A ground rule double from Rogers followed and a Powell single put the Honey Hunters on the board, scoring Hampton. For two more runs, Sale belted a double to center and reached third on a Revs throwing error. Tapia finished the scoring on an RBI groundout for the 4-0 lead.
An inning later, Gastonia continued to produce. Jonah Girand worked a leadoff walk. Then all with two outs, Powell singled to center and Sale reached on a fielding error allowing Girand to score and Powell to reach third. Sale stole second and moved to third on a throwing error from Lenin Rodriguez, allowing Powell to score. For the second straight inning, Tapia brought in the final run as a single scored Sale for a 7-0 lead.
One more came in for Gastonia in the third. With one out, Skole collected an infield hit and stole second. After an error allowed Girand to reach, Hampton singled to right for an 8-0 lead.
York came alive in the fourth with four runs. With one out, Dotel single to right center and Gregorio belted his fourth home run against Gastonia and ninth overall on a drive to right for York’s first two runs in Game 2. After Lenin Rodriguez walked, Mikey Reynolds smashed a ball to left center for his first Revs home run since 2015, cutting the deficit to 8-4.
The Honey Hunters scored once more in the sixth. With two outs, Sale belted his league-leading 34th home run to right-center for a five-run lead, 9-4.
York cut Gastonia’s lead to three with a pair runs in the home half of the sixth. York loaded the bases as Dotel walked, Gregorio collected an infield hit, and Reynolds was hit by a pitch. Harris lined a single to shallow center for the first run of the inning. With the bases still loaded, Kenley worked a walk for the 9-6 score.
The Revs put the finishing touches on one of the wildest days in franchise history, rallying for a four-run seventh to nail down the exhilarating victory. Nellie Rodriguez looped a single to center and Franco walked to set the table, before Dotel cracked an RBI off the base of the right field fence, bringing York within 9-7 and landing the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Gregorio lined a sac fly to center to make it a one-run game, and with two outs, walks to Reynolds and Harris loaded the bases. Kenley worked his second bases loaded walk in as many innings and third of the weekend to tie the game at 9-9, and pinch-hitter Tyler Hill came up as the hero with a broken bat infield single toward short, plating Reynolds with the winning run and igniting another wild celebration as the Revs claimed their eighth walk-off victory of the season and second in the series sweep of the Honey Hunters.
The Revs pull into a tie for first place for the first time since August 5 after the second game of the second half when their record stood at 1-1. York is now 27-27 in the second half, reaching the .500 mark for the first time since the 1-1 start.
York has swept back-to-back home series with doubleheader sweeps in both, and now has a six-game home winning streak.
The Revs open the final home series of the regular season on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against the Charleston Dirty Birds. The night includes the Revs’ Cancer Survivor Celebration presented by Visiting Angels. It is also 007 Night. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
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