BOX SCORE
Josh Prince launched a grand slam to left center field in the top of the sixth inning, helping to hand the York Revolution a 9-2 loss to the Sugar Land Skeeters on Friday night in front of 3,137 fans at PeoplesBank Park. York falls to 8-7 in the second half, dropping into second place by half a game.
The Revs got a solid start from Frank Gailey (7-7) who took the tough luck loss. The lefty tossed five innings, giving up two runs and striking out five while not walking a batter, stranding seven Skeeters on base.
The Skeeters got out to a 1-0 lead early. Joe Benson led off the game with a single to right, was sacrificed to second by Prince, and came into score on a Travis Scott single to right.
The Revs responded in their first at-bats. Alonzo Harris led off with a single up the middle and stole second. Alexi Casilla followed with a double down the line in right, scoring Harris and extending his hitting streak to 19 in a row, tying the game 1-1.
Scott came through for the Skeeters again in the third. With two outs and Kevin Ahrens at second base, Scott drove a double to the gap in right-center field to put his team back ahead 2-1.
Michael Nix (9-5) held the Revs in check on the hill. The Atlantic League leader in wins and ERA allowed only the first inning run through a total of six innings of work, striking out five for his ninth win of the season.
The Skeeter offense came to life in the sixth. With Michael Click on in relief, Wilfredo Rodriguez doubled off the wall in right and was followed by a Cole Gillespie walk. With one out, Benson reached on a swinging bunt, setting up Prince for his grand slam to give the Skeeters a 6-1 advantage.
Sugar Land added two runs in the seventh off of David Wynn. Bryan Pounds took the Revs lefty deep to straight away center field, his eighth home run of the year and second against his former team. Gillespie hit a solo shot to left later in the inning, pushing the Skeeter lead to 8-1.
Ryan Dent countered in the home half of the seventh with a towering home run down the left field line, his third of the year, to cut the deficit to 8-2.
Sugar Land tacked on a final run in the eighth as Albert Cordero led off the inning with a double off the wall in left. Scott followed with a single, hit third hit of the game, and Wynn yielded a walk to Pounds to load the bases. Mark Mason turned to Hawtin Buchanan who gave up a sac fly to center to score Cordero, but rolled a double play ball to retire the side. Buchanan followed with a three-up, three-down ninth inning.
The 9-2 win for the Skeeters ends a streak of six wins in a row for the Revs over Sugar Land, and snaps a two-game win streak for the Revs overall.
The Revs will send Steve Janas (1-4, 4.93) to the mound to face off with Mitch Talbot (3-2, 5.62) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night. It’s Health Fair Night presented by OSS Health, complete with Post-game fireworks. For tickets visit yorkrevolution.com, the Apple Chevrolet Ticket Office, or call 717-801-HITS.
Darrell Henry and Matt Present will be on the air at 6:10 p.m. on 1350 WOYK, as well as online at woyk1350.com, and the WOYK App.
NOTES:
Casilla’s 19-game hitting streak is the longest active in the Atlantic League, the league’s second-longest of the season, and 9th longest in Revs history. He is now 35-82 (.427) over the streak. Carlos Triunfel’s two-hit game extends his hitting streak to seven in a row. Isaias Tejeda lost an 11-game streak and Jared Mitchell saw a nine-game streak snapped. The Revs’ loss to the Skeeters was their first since May 26th, snapping the franchise record six-game winning streak head-to-head.