(August 9, 2017 – Bridgewater, NJ): The York Revolution made it five consecutive series victories, closing out a seven-game road trip with a 5-2 win in the rubber match against the Somerset Patriots in front of 6,071 fans at TD Bank Ballpark on Wednesday evening. The Revs win five out of seven on the road trip, and have won seven of their last nine overall, improving to 20-13 in the second half and moving to within one game of first place. York hosts New Britain in the first of a four-game series Thursday evening at PeoplesBank Park.
With the game scoreless, Alonzo Harris led off the fourth inning with a single to center, and advanced to second when the ball was misplayed by center fielder Justin Pacchioli. The hit ended a streak of nine straight retired by Patriots righty David Kubiak to start the game. Harris moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Alexi Casilla, and scored on a line drive single to center from Isaias Tejeda, giving York a 1-0 lead. A single by Michael Burgess and a walk to Telvin Nash loaded the bases, but Kubiak escaped further trouble with a strikeout, and by tagging out Tejeda attempting to score on a potential wild pitch.
Jared Mitchell led off the fifth inning with a line drive homer to right-center, his 10th of the year, as the Revs extended the lead to 2-0.
The Revs continued to build the lead in the sixth as Casilla led off by poking an infield single toward second base. Tejeda was hit by a pitch to put two men on. After a double play, Nash came through with a clutch two-out RBI double down the left field line to make it 3-0. Dayron Varona was hit by a pitch to keep the inning going, and Mitchell legged out an infield single, with Nash racing home to score on a throwing error by second baseman Justin Trapp as York went ahead 4-0.
Revs starter Jay Gause cruised into the sixth, and had retired 10 consecutive batters through his first out of the fifth inning. A pair of walks sparked the Patriots in the sixth, however. Gause retired Aharon Eggleston on a line out to center for the first out, but Pacchioli drove a two-run double to right-center to cut the lead in half. As reliever Chase Huchingson was set to enter, a power failure caused a 21 minute delay before the stadium lights returned to full strength. Undeterred by the wait, Huchingson retired Kyle Roller on a groundout and froze Christian Marrero for a strikeout to quiet the threat.
Michael Click tossed a scoreless seventh inning, aided by one of the great defensive plays of the season. With one on and one out, Yovan Gonzalez drove a liner toward the gap in right-center launching a sprinting Harris in pursuit. Propelling himself airborne, Harris made a full-extension midair diving grab, hanging onto the ball as he crashed to the ground deep in the gap as Mitchell raised both arms in celebration alongside of Harris. Click followed by striking out Trapp to send the game to the eighth.
Tejeda led off the eighth inning with a single up the middle, and after advancing on a wild pitch, moved to third as Michael Burgess singled to left. That set up Nash who skied a sacrifice fly to center, bringing a hustling Tejeda home to give York a 5-2 advantage.
Ricardo Gomez struck out the side around a one-out single in the eighth, and Brad Allen fired a perfect ninth for his 17th save.
Gause (8-1) moved to within one victory of the league lead in wins, limiting Somerset to two runs on three hits over 5.1 innings for his fifth consecutive victory.
Notes: Allen’s 17 saves are tied for the fifth most in a season in Revs history (Gomez, 2012). York’s five wins is its most on a road trip since a 5-1 trip to New Britain and Southern Maryland last August. The Revs extend their unbeaten streak to seven straight series. The series victory is also their fifth straight on the road, and they are unbeaten in all six road series in the second half. Gause has allowed three runs or fewer in all nine of his starts. York has won 10 of its last 11 series finales and improves to 7-3 in series rubber matches on the season, having won six in-a-row. York righty Victor Mateo (5-6, 3.82) faces New Britain right hander Mike Lee (2-6, 4.42) in Thursday’s opener at 6:30 p.m. The first 1,000 kids receive a Youth T-Shirt Giveaway presented by CHIP. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Apple Chevrolet Ticket Office.
