(May 31, 2022 – York, Pa.): Carlos Franco homered twice, doubled twice, and drove in six, nearly leading the York Revolution to a big comeback in a 10-9 loss to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Tuesday evening at PeoplesBank Park.
The Revs got off to a hot start in the bottom of the first inning, smacking three RBI doubles off of Crabs starter and all-time Atlantic League wins leader Daryl Thompson. Elmer Reyes, Nellie Rodriguez, and Franco all scorched RBI two baggers to put York ahead with a 3-0 lead.
After being shut down in the first, the Blue Crabs offense went into overdrive moving forward.
The Crabs plated their first two runs in the second on a groundout and double steal. Braxton Lee led off the inning with a triple and scored one batter later on a Joe DeLuca groundout. With runners on the corners and one away, Michael Baca took off for second and on a spiked throw from catcher Jhon Nunez, Ryan Haug scampered home for another run.
The third inning was the most prolific of the night for the Southern Maryland offense. With one out, the Crabs rattled off three straight hits, with runs scoring on an Alex Crosby single and a Lee triple. Two batters later and with two outs, Baca poked an RBI single to center to push the Crabs ahead 5-3.
The Revs turned to the bullpen in the fourth inning after Merandy Gonzalez left the game after just 66 pitches.
Isaac Sanchez pitched the fourth inning and allowed two runs on back-to-back RBI singles from Jared Walker and Crosby. Sanchez escaped the inning without any further damage as he rolled an inning-ending double play to Jack Kenley at second before returning for a scoreless fifth.
Jhoendri Herrera was sharp in relief to keep the Revs in the ballgame. He gave up an unearned run on an errant throw in the sixth but followed with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
York finally chased Thompson in the seventh after a Yefri Perez leadoff single. Thompson (4-2) gave way to Bradley Roney who managed to record back-to-back outs right out of the gate. But after a two-out single to center by Rodriguez, Franco unloaded on his 10th home run of the year, a towering three-run shot to right field which cut the Crabs lead to 8-6.
Alberto Rodriguez answered with a shutdown inning in the eighth inning with two strikeouts.
Endrys Briceno entered to pitch in the bottom half of the inning for Southern Maryland. He opened with a leadoff walk to Nunez but followed with back-to-back strikeouts. Reyes batted with two outs and deposited a base hit into right center field. Nunez aggressively went from first to third and drew a throw that skipped away from third baseman Ian Yetsko. Nunez raced home on the ricochet, cutting the deficit to 8-7.
Alberto Rodriguez stayed on for the ninth inning, but was quickly tagged with a two-run homer by DeLuca, his third of the year in just seven games with Southern Maryland, extending the Crabs lead to 10-7 and providing insurance for closer Mat Latos.
The Revs made Latos work in the ninth as a leadoff walk from Nellie Rodriguez was followed by a two-run blast to left-center from Franco, his second of the night. For Franco, it was his third two-homer game of the season and his second in three days. Latos, however, bounced back to retire the next three hitters, earning his league leading 12th save and closing out a 10-9 win for Southern Maryland.
The Revs will look to bounce back on Wednesday when they send right hander Eduardo Rivera to the hill for his fourth start. He’ll be opposed by lefty Denson Hull, who is third in the league with a 1.93 ERA. The game will get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Zombie Apocolypse Night and a PeoplesBank Kids Eat Free Wednesday. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Shipley Energy Ticket Office.
Franco Notes: Franco’s six RBI are a Revs career best and the most by a York batter since Kenley knocked in six on July 11, 2021 vs. Long Island. Franco’s three multi-homer games are already one shy of matching a franchise single-season record (Chris Nowak 2012, Isaias Tejeda 2019). His 12 total bases came within one of matching a club single-game record held by Scott Grimes (2010) and Melky Mesa (2019). His four extra-base hits tie a club single-game record (Tejeda: June 28, 2017 at Bridgeport). Franco’s four hits came in five at-bats, as he is now 11-for-18 over his last four games. He now has 11 homers on the season and 37 in his Revs career, one shy of cracking the franchise’s all-time top ten. With 11 homers and 36 RBI on the season, Franco is tied for second in the Atlantic League in both categories, just two off the league lead in both departments. He finishes the month of May with 25 RBI for the month, tied with two others including Mesa for the league lead. His eight homers tie a franchise record for the month of May (Michael Hernandez 2012, Telvin Nash 2016 and 2019).
