(April 22, 2022 – Central Islip, NY): The York Revolution rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth and got a series of clutch outs from its bullpen in a season-opening come-from-behind 5-3 victory over the Long Island Ducks on Friday night in front of 5,268 fans at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.
The Revs opened the scoring for the season in the top of the second inning as Jack Kenley smacked a one-out RBI single up the middle for an early 1-0 lead.
Long Island answered in its half as Deven Marrero lined a two-out RBI single to left, tying the game at 1-1, but Revs starter Alex Sanabia quieted further threats, retiring Rusney Castillo on a fly out to left to leave the bases loaded.
The Ducks went ahead as Dustin Woodcock connected on a leadoff homer to right in the bottom of the fourth, before Sanabia rebounded to quickly set down his final three batters faced on the night, finishing four innings of work with two runs allowed.
York tied the game in the top of the sixth as Nellie Rodriguez smacked a two-out RBI infield single along the third base line. That plated Troy Stokes Jr. who singled and stole both second and third base for the Revs’ first two steals of the season.
Long Island again went on top with a run in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out RBI double to the gap in left-center by Rusney Castillo, but the Revs made their big move two innings later.
Zach Racusin ignited things in the top of the eighth with a leadoff single to center, and drew an errant pickoff throw from Ducks reliever Frank Moscatiello. That preceded walks to Yefri Perez and Stokes Jr. to load the bases with no outs. Chad Hockin entered and also failed to find the strike zone, walking Carlos Franco to bring home the tying run, and Rodriguez to push across the go-ahead run. With one out, lefty Cody Beckman was brought in and jumped ahead of pinch-hitter Paul Mondesi 0-2, but Mondesi laced an RBI single to left, extending the lead to 5-3.
Long Island mustered a threat in the bottom of the eighth as Johnni Turbo took first base on a pitch to the backstop and was awarded a base hit. Vladimir Frias followed with what appeared to be a double play grounder, but Kenley lost his footing at second resulting in an error. Lefty Adrian Almeida came right back to get another ground ball to short, as Elmer Reyes and Kenley teamed up on a huge double play ball to stem the tide. Almeida retired LJ Mazzilli on a soft tapper to third with Franco handling a charging play on the run to silence the Ducks threat.
The Ducks again made things sticky in the ninth as Joe DeCarlo reached on a two-out infield single to keep the game alive and Woodcock planted a fly ball on the left field line for a double, putting the tying two runs in scoring position. Jim Fuller came back to strike out Marrero to finish it off, however, notching the 30th save of his Revs career.
Robinson Parra (1-0) picked up the wn with a scoreless seventh, as the Revs bullpen allowed just one run in five innings.
Notes: Sanabia joins Corey Thurman as the only pitchers in Revs history to start multiple Opening Night games. The Revs improve to 10-5 all-time on Opening Night, 5-2 on the road. It is their first road opener since 2017 (won at New Britain). Fuller’s 30 saves move him within one of tying R.J. Rodriguez (2010-12) for third on the Revs all-time list. The win is the 954th in franchise history as the Revs approach 1,000 victories all-time. It is Mark Mason’s 551st win as manager, as he is now five shy of moving into sixth on the Atlantic League’s all-time wins list. York lefty Austin Nicely makes his season debut on Saturday, opposite Ducks southpaw Bennett Parry at 6:35 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 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
