(August 11, 2018) – Travis Witherspoon clubbed a game-tying home run in the fifth and a go-ahead home run in the eighth, but the York Revolution were on the wrong end of a seesaw battle on Saturday night, falling 5-4 to the Long Island Ducks in front of 5,623 fans at Bethpage Ballpark.
York opened the scoring as Melky Mesa drilled a solo homer to left-center with two outs in the first for his team-leading 13th of the year.
Revs starter Carl Brice worked past a pair of two-out walks, striking out Taylor Ard to end the first, keeping the lead intact.
Long Island took the lead with two in the second. Ramon Cabrera tied the game on a line drive homer to right. Anthony Vega followed with a walk and stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch. That set up a two-out RBI single to right by Jordany Valdespin to give the Ducks a 2-1 advantage.
Travis Snider walked and Lew Ford doubled to lead off the bottom of the third, putting two in scoring position with no outs. Brice was lifted for reliever James Pugliese, who allowed just one inherited run on a sac fly by David Washington.
Down 3-1 in the fifth, Michael Burgess took a leadoff walk. With two outs, Witherspoon launched a two-run homer to left field, knotting the score at 3-3.
Puglise and Joe Van Meter each worked two shutout innings out of the Revs bullpen to keep York close. Michael Click handled a scoreless seventh inning.
Witherspoon led off the eighth with a blast to left as his second home run of the night gave the Revs a 4-3 lead. It was Witherspoon's first multi-home run game since 2014 in the California League while a member of the Seattle Mariners organization.
The lead didn't last long. Revs reliever Jailen Peguero (2-5) retired the first two batters in the bottom of the eighth, but Cabrera reached on a seeing-eye single through the right side and Anthony Vega connected on a 1-2 pitch for an opposite field two-run homer to left-center, pushing Long Island ahead, 5-4.
Francisco Rodriguez retired the side in order in the ninth for his 21st save.
Notes: The Revs have belted three home runs in each of the first three games of the series. Witherspoon's two-homer game is the eighth by a Revs batter this season and the fourth of Witherspoon's career. York lefty Logan Williamson (5-3, 3.26) faces Long Island southpaw Hector Silvestre (0-0, 7.71) on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 1350, woyk1350.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK 1350 on YouTube beginning at 4:45 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
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