(October 5, 2021 – York, Pa.): Mikey Reynolds ripped a tiebreaking triple in the sixth and smashed a three-run homer in the seventh as the York Revolution defeated the Charleston Dirty Birds, 8-3 on Tuesday night in a series opener at PeoplesBank Park. The win is the fourth in-a-row on the current homestand for the Revs, who move into sole possession of first place for the first time since the end of the 2019 season.
York leads Southern Maryland by half a game and Long Island by a full game with five games to play in the regular season.
The win was also the seventh consecutive home victory for the Revs, their longest home streak since 2015.
York struck first in the bottom of the second inning. Nellie Rodriguez greeted Dirty Birds starter Arnaldo Hernandez with a laser over the Arch Nemesis for his 24th home run and a 1-0 Revs lead. The 24 long balls ties the fourth-highest total in a season in Revs history, matching Jason Aspito’s 2008 total. After a Carlos Franco walk and Welington Dotel single, Osmy Gregorio continued his torrid stretch at the plate with a hard-hit single off the right field wall scoring Franco for the 2-0 advantage.
In the third, York tacked on a run off Dotel’s bat. Melky Mesa walked and moved to second on a single from Rodriguez. With two outs, Dotel cracked a base hit up the middle scoring Mesa from second for a 3-0 lead.
The Dirty Birds responded the next inning with a leadoff home run to left-center from Edwin Espinal, cutting the lead to 3-1.
After a scoreless fifth from both sides, Charleston tied the game in the sixth. With one out, Dario Pizzano and Olmo Rosario singled, and both moved into scoring position on a ground out from Rymer Liriano. With two outs, Yovan Gonzalez doubled to the left field corner for the 3-3 tie.
York immediately responded in their half of the sixth. Dotel walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Gregorio. For his sixth extra-base hit of the year in just 16 games with York, Reynolds nailed a triple to right field to plate Dotel and retake the lead, 4-3.
Refusing to relent, the Revs broke it open, 8-3 in the seventh. JC Encarnacion started the offense with a leadoff pinch-hit single to right. After Encarnacion moved to second on a passed ball, that left first base open which Franco took on his second walk of the night. With two outs, Gregorio drove in his second on the night on a single to left. Reynolds came through again for York as he crushed a ball that hopped off the top of the Arch Nemesis and over for a three-run bomb to close out the scoring.
York’s bullpen took it from there, totaling 3.2 scoreless innings. Brandon Fry (3-2) earned the win, taking over in the sixth after a solid 5.1 innings from starter Duke von Schamann. Alberto Rodriguez worked a scoreless seventh while becoming the league’s first to 50 appearances on the season. Bubby Rossman and Jim Fuller took care of the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
York’s four-game overall winning streak ties a season best for the sixth time. The Revs improve to 28-27 in the second half, holding a winning record for the first time since a 1-0 start.
Revs righty Luis Sanchez (1-1, 5.56) faces Dirty Birds right-hander Elih Villanueva (4-3, 4.06) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The night features the Kwame Katana designed Jersey Auction benefitting Community Progress Council. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
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