(August 9, 2019 – High Point, NC): The York Revolution offense belted three more home runs but it was not enough in a 7-5 loss to the High Point Rockers on Friday night at BB&T Point. The Revs fall to 19-9 in the second half, now leading the Freedom Division by 1.5 games in first place, and will continue their six-game road trip on Saturday evening in North Carolina.
Isaias Tejeda opened the scoring in the top of the second, hammering a solo home run to left, his 16th of the year, all in the last 30 games to spot York a 1-0 lead.
The Revs loaded the bases an inning later on a leadoff single by James Skelton and walks to Telvin Nash and Carlos Franco but could not cash in as Rockers starter Edwin Carl weaved three strike outs through the trouble, striking out the side for the second of three times on his night.
The Revs were plagued by the punch out all evening. Carl (3-2) struck out the side in order in the first and used strike outs to record each of his first five outs and 11 of his first 12 outs. He logged 12 strike outs while allowing just one run in five innings, ultimately earning the win.
York starter Dan Minor (7-6) faced the minimum over the first four innings, but High Point rallied for four runs to take the lead in the fifth. Quincy Latimore started things with a bunt base hit, while Richie Shaffer and C.J. Retherford singled to load the bases with no outs. Michael Russell’s sac fly to right tied the game, and the Rockers took advantage of a passed ball on a swinging third strike by Matthew Jones with the go-ahead run scoring on the play. Giovanny Alfonzo and Stephen Cardullo added RBI singles as the Rockers built a 4-1 lead.
Franco drilled an opposite field homer to left in the top of the sixth, cutting the deficit to 4-2. It was his seventh of the season and sixth in his last 16 games.
Hector Gomez had an answer, launching a solo shot of his own to left field leading off the bottom of the sixth, as High Point’s lead grew to 5-2.
The Revs clawed within a run with a pair of tallies in the top of the seventh. Zach Sullivan led things off with a walk to begin the inning. With one out, Sullivan stole second and moved to third on a throwing error before scoring as Skelton nailed an RBI double to the gap in left-center. Angelys Nina drove a sac fly to deep center with Skelton scoring all the way from second as Rockers center fielder Jared Mitchell appeared to lose track of the number of outs, bringing York within 5-4.
High Point pushed back ahead with two of their own in the bottom of the seventh as Gomez connected on his second home run of the night, a two-run shot to left-center to make it 7-4.
Welington Dotel clobbered a solo homer to left-center in the top of the eighth to close the scoring.
Notes: Carl’s 12 strike outs are one shy of the most by an opposing pitcher against the Revs in franchise history. The Revs struck out 18 times, a new franchise record for a nine inning game. The loss snaps a franchise record 12-game road winning streak; York is now 28-20 on the road this season. The Revs have hit three homers in back-to-back games and now lead the league with 125 long balls on the season including 65 in the last 32 games. The Revs have dropped back-to-back series openers for the first time since June 3-7; York had won 13 of its previous 15 openers. Nash lost a 10-game hitting streak on which he batted .436, but extended his on-base streak to 25 consecutive games. York righty Duke von Schamann (6-3, 3.11) faces High Point right-hander Chris Pennell (1-1, 2.65) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK on YouTube beginning at 6:10 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Brett Pietrzak on the call.
CLICK HERE FOR BOX SCORE
CLICK HERE FOR WOYK AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS
CLICK HERE FOR WOYK YOUTUBE BROADCAST
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS TO NEXT HOME GAME (FRIDAY AUG. 16 VS. LANCASTER)