(June 14, 2019 – Lancaster, Pa.): The York Revolution won for the fifth time in six games and did so in blowout fashion again, overwhelming the Lancaster Barnstormers 12-3 on Friday night in front of 6,074 fans at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
Mitch Atkins silenced the Barnstormers through seven strong innings, while the offense set a season-high with 19 hits and tied a franchise record for a nine-inning game with 12 walks.
Alexi Casilla led the way, going 4-for-6 with a homer and four runs scored. Carlos Franco reached base all seven times, going 5-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
The red-hot Revs brought their offense with them across the river as they got on the board in the top of the first inning against Lancaster starter Kelvin Vasquez. Melky Mesa drew a one-out walk to give the Revs their first base runner in the game. Franco slapped his first of five hits to give double the threat. The next batter, Isaias Tejeda walked for the sixth time in the last six games to load the bases. Telvin Nash followed with a walk of his own, forcing in Mesa and giving York an early 1-0 advantage. Vasquez battled back to retire the next two batters to end the frame.
Atkins got the start for York and was sensational. The York right-hander worked around a two-out single to work a scoreless frame in the first.
The Revs added two more runs in the top of the second inning. After Vazquez retired the first two York batters of the inning, the Revs strung together back-to-back two-out singles from Casilla and Mesa. Franco followed with an RBI single up the middle to move the lead to 2-0. Tejeda blooped an RBI single of his own to shallow center to push the lead to 3-0 on a fourth consecutive two-out hit.
Vasquez’ day was done with one out in the fourth after working in trouble all night and walking two more. He allowed just three runs despite a total of eight hits and five walks in 3.1 innings. Alejandro Chacin left the bases loaded to keep it a 3-0 game as the Revs had stranded 11 runners through four innings, but would begin to cash in the following inning.
The Revs continued to provide run support for Atkins as they added two more runs in the top of the fifth. Ryan Dent led off the inning by drawing a walk. Casilla followed by slapping a double down the right field line to give York runners on second and third with no one out. After a ground out for the first out, Franco was walked intentionally to load the bases. Chacin fired a wild pitch well short of catcher Anderson De La Rosa that allowed Dent to score and move the York advantage to 4-0. Nash cracked an RBI single to left to thrust the lead to 5-0.
York added another two runs in the sixth. James Skelton slapped a double to the right-center field gap to give York a runner in scoring position with one out. Two batters later, Casilla cranked a two-run home run to right to blow the lead open at 7-0.
Atkins continued to cruise and worked another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth making it ten Barnstormers set down in succession for the York righty.
For the second consecutive inning, the Revs blasted a two run home run in the seventh. After a J.P. Sportman single up the middle which extended his hitting streak to 12 consecutive games, Skelton blasted a two run home run deep into right field to push the lead to 9-0. On the Sportman single, every Revs batter had recorded a hit by the seventh inning.
Atkins allowed his first run of the game in the seventh on a K.C. Hobson ground out, but retired his final three, leaving the game after seven impressive innings with the 9-1 lead. Atkins (2-4) allowed just one run on four hits in seven innings with one walk and a season-high-tying seven strike outs.
York tacked on an extra run in the eighth on a Franco single to right-center, his fifth hit of the game, giving him six RBIs in just three games with York and extending the lead to 10-1.
Peter Tago entered the game in the eighth and allowed two runs on a pair of RBI ground outs but sent it to the ninth with the score at 10-3.
York scored a run in their fifth consecutive inning to put on the finishing touches. Mesa skied a sacrifice fly to right moving the score to 11-3. Dent scored on an errant pickoff attempt from lefty Caleb Gindl to plate the 12th York run.
With the 12-3 lead, Pat Young was called upon to finish the game. Young hit his first batter faced but retired the next three, striking out two, and giving York the 1-0 series lead.
Recap by Brett Pietrzak
Notes: The win ties this year’s War of the Roses series at 2-2. It was the season’s first meeting in Lancaster. Atkins is the third Revs pitcher to go seven innings in a game this season. His 10 consecutive hitters retired came within one of matching his own Revs’ season best. Revs starters have allowed two earned runs or fewer in 10 consecutive games. Atkins has a 2.12 ERA over his last seven starts (six quality). Each of his first four strike outs were looking, as were five of his seven total. His seventh moved him past Stephen Penney into seventh in Revs history with 179 strike outs. The win is the 14th of his Revs career, tying him with Penney and Jorge Martinez for seventh most. The Revs scored double digits, totaled at least 14 hits, and won by at least nine for the third time in the last six games. The Revs drew 12 walks in a nine-inning game for the third time and first since 2012. York stranded a franchise record 19 runners on base including multiple runners in eight of nine innings. Casilla’s four runs scored tie a Revs’ single-game best (Henry Castillo, May 20 vs. Southern Maryland). Franco’s five-hit game is the 10th in Revs history and first since Cody Johnson (June 27, 2013 at Sugar Land); he is now 8-for-13 with six RBI in three games to begin his Revs career. Sportman’s 12-game hitting streak matches Mesa for the Revs’ longest of the season and is tied for the longest active streak in the league. Tago allowed a run for the first time in six outings and an earned run for the first time in nine. Young worked his sixth straight scoreless outing and fourth in-a-row without a hit. York lefty Ian Thomas (1-0, 2.35) faces Lancaster southpaw Buddy Baumann (2-4, 3.75) in the opener of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m., featuring two seven-inning games. 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 12:40 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Brett Pietrzak on the call.
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