(June 16, 2018) -- After a long day of baseball at Regency Furniture Stadium, the York Revolution and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs split a highly competitive doubleheader on Saturday evening. The Revs won Game 1, 2-0, and the Crabs edged out an extra-inning walkoff win, 4-3, in Game 2. Both games were scheduled for seven innings.
In Game 1, Revs starter Joe Van Meter and Crabs starter Brandon Cumpton duked it out in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel, as both pitchers held the opposition scoreless through the first six innings.
After Van Meter threw his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth, the Revs broke the scoreless tie in the top of the seventh.
Melky Mesa led off the inning with a single and Travis Witherspoon came in to pinch run at first base. Jared Mitchell moved Witherspoon to second with a sacrifice bunt. Jose Cuevas followed with a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate Witherspoon and give the Revs a 1-0 lead. Cuevas advanced all the way to third on the throw and scored as the Revs tacked on one more on Ryan Dent’s sac fly to center field to make it 2-0.
Grant Sides worked a perfect bottom of the ninth to close out the game and pick up his fourth save of the season.
Van Meter (2-1) earned his first win as a starter, going six shutout frames and allowing just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Cumpton (3-3) took the loss after working six and one-third innings, allowing two runs on just three hits with seven strikeouts, one walk and two hit batters.
In Game 2, it was the Revs who scored first again, doing so in the third as Dent doubled to left, stole third, and came home on a wild pitch with two outs from Crabs starter Alex White, putting the Revs up 1-0.
The Revs knocked White out of the game after just two and two-third innings, but left the bases loaded as reliever Joey Wagman worked out of the jam.
Jay Gause, who came off the disabled list before the game, started for the Revs and had to work out of jams all night through his four innings. He allowed a run in the fourth on an RBI groundout from Francisco Rosario, which tied the game at 1-1.
With the game tied in the top of the fifth, Tyler Clark untied it with a one-out line-drive home run over the wall in left-center, giving the Revs a 2-1 advantage. The homer was Clark’s third of the season. The Revs added a run on a two-out RBI double to deep right field from Welington Dotel to make it a 3-1 game.
The Crabs came back to tie it in the sixth. After Ricardo Gomez walked back-to-back hitters with one out, Junior Rincon came in and allowed both runners to score. One came home on an RBI single from Corey Vaughn and the other scored on Frank Martinez’ RBI ground out, knotting things up at 3-3.
The game went to extras and the Crabs walked it off on a bases-loaded, one-out RBI single from Rosario in the bottom of the ninth, giving Southern Maryland a 4-3 win.
Robert Carson (3-2) suffered the loss for the Revs after working two and one-third innings in relief, while Crabs reliever Craig Stem picked up the win, working two shutout innings in extras.
The Crabs stranded 16 runners in the game but still pulled out the win.
The Revs (22-22) will aim for a series split Sunday as they take on the Crabs (18-27) in the finale of the four-game series at 2:05 p.m. Righty Dominic Severino gets the ball for the Revs while lefty Drake Britton will start for the Crabs. York fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 1350, woyk1350.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK 1350 on YouTube beginning at 1:45 p.m. with Darrell Henry and Michael Marcantonini on the call.
Notes: The Revs prevented the Blue Crabs from a walk-off win earlier in the second game as Carson escaped a bases loaded, one-out jam on a double play in the seventh, and stranded the winning run at second base after a pair of strike outs to end the eighth. York's game one victory marked the fifth time in the last eight road games that the Revs won, all while taking the lead in the final three innings.
Story by Michael Marcantonini
Broadcaster/Media Relations Asst.
