(July 5, 2019 – Lancaster, Pa.): The York Revolution tied a franchise record with an eighth consecutive victory and stayed alive in the Freedom Division’s first half race, knocking off the Lancaster Barnstormers 6-4 on Friday evening in front of 3,880 fans at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
With Sugar Land having won on Friday night at New Britain, the Revs need to win their final three first half games (Saturday and Sunday in Lancaster as well as a makeup game at Southern Maryland), and have a Skeeters loss in their first half finale on Saturday night.
The Revs trailed early in Friday’s game. Lancaster starter Jared Lakind got off to a hot start early as he worked a 1-2-3 top of the first inning to start his day.
York starter Mitch Atkins ran into some trouble out of the gate as Caleb Gindl led off the game with a first pitch home run to right. Michael Martinez followed with a solo home run to right-center of his own, putting Lancaster ahead 2-0 after the game-opening back-to-back jacks.
Lakind and Atkins both tossed scoreless frames in the second to keep the score at 2-0.
After Lakind worked a 1-2-3 top of the third, Atkins battled around a single and walk to work his second straight scoreless inning.
Telvin Nash led off the top of the fourth by smashing a double to left field to give York a runner in scoring position with no outs. After Lakind fought back to retire the next two batters in order, Welington Dotel crushed a game-tying two-run home run to right-center field, extending his hitting streak to 19 games and knotting the score at 2-2.
Lancaster regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Atkins retired the first two batters of the inning, but Gindl kept things alive with a two-out single. Martinez lined an RBI double down the left field line to put the Barnstormers ahead 3-2.
Angelys Nina led off the top of the fifth by singling off the right field wall. James Skelton followed with a walk and Justin Trapp grounded into a fielder’s choice, moving Nina to third. Henry Castillo followed by hitting into a fielder’s choice of his own, scoring Nina and tying the game at 3-3. With Castillo standing on first, Nash clobbered his 21st home run of the season over the tents in right field, putting York ahead 5-3 on the two-run shot.
Corey Walter entered the game in the bottom of the fifth and struck out the first two ‘Stormers he faced. Andrew Aplin lined a two-out solo home run to right to cut the lead to 5-4.
After Garrett Granitz worked a scoreless sixth inning for Lancaster, Walter faced the minimum as he erased a leadoff single with a 1-6-3 double play in the bottom of the sixth to keep the score at 5-4.
With the Revs ahead by just one run, Lancaster got their first two men on base against Walter in the bottom of the seventh and birthday boy Pete Tago was called upon to work out of the jam. Things got a bit tighter as K.C. Hobson singled to load the bases, but Tago struck out Destin Hood for the first out of the inning. The next batter, Aplin, fouled out to third for out number two. After going to a full count with the bases still full, Anderson De La Rosa lined out to Dotel in left to end the threat. Tago (3-1) was ultimately credited with the win for the big escape on his 27th birthday.
Josh Judy worked a perfect bottom of the eighth while picking up two strikeouts to earn the hold out of the York bullpen.
Dotel (3-for-4) singled to right to begin the ninth inning and promptly stole second while advancing to third on a throwing error with no outs. Nina elevated a sacrifice fly to right to score Dotel from third, giving the Revs an insurance run and a 6-4 lead.
Fresh off his first Atlantic League All-Star Selection, Jameson McGrane came in looking to notch his fifth save of the season. McGrane allowed just one hit as he worked a scoreless ninth, striking out the final two batters to end it.
Recap by Brett Pietrzak
Notes: The Revs have won eight consecutive games for the fourth time in franchise history; York’s last eight-game winning streak was June 19-26, 2011. The Revs have won nine of their last 10 on the road including a current five-game road winning streak which also ties a club record for the fourth time; the last five-game road winning streak occurred July 18-25, 2014. The Revs have enjoyed overall winning streaks of seven and eight games over the last three weeks and have now won 18 of their last 21 and 20 of their last 24 games, the greatest 21 and 24-game stretches in franchise history. It is the second time in club history they’ve enjoyed multiple winning streaks of seven or more in the same season (also 2011). The Revs (33-34) are within one game of .500 for the first time since May 5 (4-5). Nash’s homer was his franchise record 74th all-time with York. His 21 home runs this season lead the league and are a Revs first half record while moving within two of the franchise record for any half (23, Chris Nowak, second half 2012). Nash’s 21 homers are already tied for eighth most in a season in club history and just four shy of being tied for second most. He now has a league-leading 53 RBI on the season, breaking Andy Marte’s club record for first half RBI. Dotel’s homer extended his hitting streak to 19 consecutive games, the league’s longest this season behind teammate J.P. Sportman’s 27-gamer. It is the third time in club history and first time since 2008 that York has had two batters enjoy hitting streaks of 19 or more. Ryan Dent lost an 11-gamer and Castillo had a 10-gamer snapped. The Revs improve to 6-2 in the 2019 War of the Roses series, having won five straight, all in Lancaster. With four strike outs, Atkins is one away from becoming the sixth pitcher in Revs history to total 200 strike outs in a York uniform. With two inherited runners left on, Tago has now stranded 16 of 18 inherited runners on the season. Judy worked his sixth straight scoreless outing and notched the 600th strike out of his pro career. York righty Dan Minor (4-4, 4.66) faces Lancaster lefty Buddy Baumann (2-7, 4.20) 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 & Brett Pietrzak on the call.
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