(May 24, 2024 – York, Pa.): In a battle for sole possession of first place in the North Division, the York Revolution put on an offensive clinic on Friday night, scoring a season-high 16 runs on a season-high 17 hits, beating the Staten Island FerryHawks 16-7 at WellSpan Park in the opener of a four-game set.
Staten Island opened the scoring in the first inning on a two-out, two-run homer to left center by Joe Dunand.
Matt McDermott reached on an infield single to lead off the home half, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Donovan Casey proceeded to even the game up with his first home run of the season on a tape measure blast to left center field. Jacob Rhinesmith added a sacrifice fly to put the Revs up 3-2.
After Zach Neff tossed a 1-2-3 second inning, his offense gave him a big cushion in the bottom half. Kobe Kato and McDermott both reached on singles before Casey beat out a potential double play ball to plate a run and keep the inning alive. David Washington followed with a run-scoring single before Trey Martin blasted York’s second home run of the game, a three-run shot to left field for his second round-tripper in as many days. That chased FerryHawks starter Matt Reitz from the game after just 1.2 innings.
The game was a back-and-forth slugfest in the early innings and that continued in the top of the third as Staten Island batted around, scoring four against Neff. Doubles by Taylor Motter and Pablo Sandoval were the big swings of the inning which cut the York lead to 8-6.
Alfredo Reyes led off the bottom half of the third with a single before Paul Mondesi launched his first Revs homer over the Arch Nemesis to put York up 10-6.
Alex Valverde relieved Neff in the fourth inning but Staten Island was able to scratch across another run. After Drew Maggi led off the inning with a broken bat double, Sandoval scored him with a two-out single to shrink the lead to 10-7.
Casey led off the bottom of the fourth with a double to right and Rhinesmith delivered a two-out RBI single to right field off of lefty Christian Allegretti. After four high-octane frames, York led 11-7.
Both relievers traded zeroes in the fifth inning with Valverde tossing a perfect inning with a strikeout and Allegretti working around a one-out walk.
Tom Sutera entered in the sixth inning with two outs and two runners on to face Sandoval who worked a walk to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate. Dunand grounded a ball up the middle but McDermott made an incredible full extension diving stop from short and threw to first in time to strand the bases loaded on one of the top defensive plays of the season from the Revs.
York had two aboard in the bottom of the sixth but Rhinesmith was robbed of extra bases by center fielder Nate Scantlin who laid out in the right center field gap to take away multiple runs on a diving catch of Rhinesmith’s line drive. The next play saw chaos as Reyes hit a ball up the middle which was fielded on a backhand by Motter at second base. Motter threw to first where his first baseman Luis Castro was not initially covering. Getting back to the bag, Castro collided with Reyes as the ball skipped in front of the York dugout. Washington scored on what ended up being an RBI single for Reyes increasing the lead to 12-7.
Sutera retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth before the Revolution offense provided one final blast of insurance in the bottom of the eighth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Reyes unloaded on a pitch over the Nemesis for his first home run as a Rev. The grand slam put the finishing touches on a prolific offensive day for York, as they extended their lead to 16-7. It also capped a five-RBI performance for Reyes in his first home game at WellSpan Park.
Motter led off the top of the ninth with a single but Matt Turner retired the next three he faced to end the game.
York takes sole possession of first place with the win and moves to 16-10 on the season, establishing the best 26-game start in franchise history. York has won six of its last eight overall in addition to a victory in a suspended game completed during that stretch and will look for a fourth straight win on Saturday as they send Will Stewart to the hill opposed by Staten Island’s Christian Capuano at 6:30 p.m. It is Salute to Service presented by M&M Plumbing & HVAC which includes Post-Game Fireworks presented by AAA Mid States and a Patriotic Hat giveaway presented by L2 Brands to the first 1,000 fans. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
Notes: Washington extended his York career-opening hit streak to 19 games and recorded his first three-hit night; he also doubled for a fifth consecutive game. McDermott extended his league high on-base streak to 23 games including all 22 games he has played with York; he also extended his hit streak to 11 games with multi-hit games in his past five contests and in nine of his last ten. With 2.1 more scoreless innings, Sutera has not allowed an earned run across his first 12.1 innings this season. York’s bullpen allowed just one run in six innings while each of the final five innings were scoreless. The Revs bullpen has now allowed just two runs in its last 27.0 innings. The four-homer game is the second of the season for the Revs. Reyes’ grand slam is the second of the season for the York offense (Rhinesmith, April 28).
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