(July 31, 2021 – Lexington, KY): The York Revolution pulled off another comeback victory as the offense continued to click in an 11-5 victory over the Lexington Legends on Saturday night at Lexington Legends Ballpark. The win is the third straight for the Revs who will go for a road three-game sweep in Lexington on Sunday evening.
The Revs scored the game’s first run in the top of the first inning as Welington Dotel took a bases loaded four-pitch walk from Legends starter Eli Garcia.
Lexington jumped ahead with a three-run second. Legends hitting coach and Major League veteran Ben Revere, activated as the designated hitter for Saturday’s game, ripped an RBI single to right, but a second run was cut down on the play as right fielder JC Encarnacion unleashed a strike to the plate to nail Derek Reddy attempting to score. The Legends managed two extra runs, however, as a two-out wild pitch brought home Revere while Ben Aklinski also crossed the plate when catcher Carlos Castro’s throw back toward the plate sailed wide for an error.
Trailing 3-1, the Revs carved the deficit in half with a manufactured run in the fourth. Encarnacion led off with a single to right, stole second, advanced to third on a Josue Herrera ground out, and came home on Osmy Gregorio’s sac fly to center bringing York within 3-2.
Lexington expanded its lead back with two runs in the home fourth. Revere ripped another knock on a triple down the first base line plating Chris Fornaci who had singled. Aklinski followed with an RBI single to center just beyond the reach of a diving Darian Sandford as the Legends lead grew to 5-2.
The margin didn’t last long as the Revs set the table in the top of the fifth on a one-out double to left by Melky Mesa and a single to center from Nellie Rodriguez. With two outs, Dotel slammed a line drive three-run homer to right, tying the game at 5-5.
Israel Cruz entered from the Revs bullpen with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth, striking out Revere and retiring Aklinski on a pop up in a critical spot to keep the game tied.
The Revs went right back to work offensively in the sixth as Herrera greeted righty Ty’Relle Harris with a double to right-center and Gregorio walked. Sandford dropped down a bunt single with Herrera coming home when Harris slipped and threw errantly to first. Jack Kenley took full advantage, launching a three-run opposite field home run to left center for a sudden 9-5 Revs lead.
Encarnacion added on in the seventh, drilling a line drive home run to left that just cleared the fence for his second home run with York, both coming in the last three games, extending the lead to 10-5.
Mesa unloaded a tape measure solo home run to left-center in the eighth against former teammate Rob Carson, providing the final 11-5 margin.
York’s bullpen was outstanding, combining for 4.2 scoreless innings. Cruz (1-0) picked up the win and was followed by Alberto Rodriguez and Edward Paredes who each logged scoreless frames. Victor Capellan closed it out with two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth
Notes: Dotel led the way with a season-high four RBI. York snapped a streak of eight consecutive games in which the opponent had scored first and secured its fifth consecutive victory to occur in come-from-behind fashion. York has overcome deficits of five, three, and three runs respectively on the current three-game winning streak. Rodriguez extends his hitting streak to 15 consecutive games, the league’s fourth-longest this season and just four games shy of the longest. Encarnacion (2-for-5) is now 11-for-20 with eight extra-base hits over his last six games. Mesa’s home run is the 47th of his Revs career, fifth-most all-time and four shy of matching Isaias Tejeda (51) for fourth. It was his 28th home run to come on the road, tying Chris Nowak and Andres Perez for second-most road homers in franchise history, trailing only Telvin Nash’s 38. The Revs’ four home runs as a team ties a season-high (July 15 at Lancaster). Capellan worked a walk to begin the ninth inning in his first career plate appearance. The Revs improve to 6-2 against Lexington and have won four of five head-to-head meetings this week. York has won back-to-back series and three of its last four overall. York scored in double figures for the third time in the last five games. Revs righty Duke von Schamann (3-4) starts Sunday’s series finale at 5:05 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and the WOYK YouTube channel beginning at 4:45 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
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