(September 24, 2019 – Sugar Land, TX): Mitch Atkins spun seven masterful innings as the York Revolution defeated the Sugar Land Skeeters, 8-1 in Game One of the 2019 Freedom Division Championship Series on Tuesday night in front of 5,074 fans at Constellation Field. Up 1-0 in the best-of-five series, the Revs will look to sweep the road portion in Game Two on Wednesday night.
Atkins allowed just one run on six hits over seven brilliant innings, walking none and striking out two in the first Atlantic League postseason start of his career.
The Revs drew first blood with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Justin Trapp ignited things, taking first base on a ball that got to the backstop with one out in the inning. Melky Mesa followed with an infield single. Trapp stole third to put runners at the corners before Telvin Nash walked to load the bases. A free pass to Isaias Tejeda followed, pushing home the game’s first run. Carlos Franco roped an RBI single to center, and the Revs held an early 2-0 lead.
The lead was doubled in the fifth. After Mesa reached on a throwing error by third baseman Juan Silverio to start the frame, Nash crushed a line drive two-run homer down the left field line, the record fourth of his postseason career with the Revs, giving the Revs a 4-0 advantage.
The only damage done by the Skeeters came in the bottom of the sixth as Anthony Giansanti connected on a solo homer to left, cutting the lead to 4-1. Atkins responded by quickly retiring the next two batters, and handled a scoreless seventh as well.
The Revs blew the game wide open with four runs in the ninth. Mesa set the table by receiving his second hit-by-pitch of the night and Nash walked for the third time, tying a Revs single-game postseason record. With two outs, Franco walked to fill the bases. Ryan Dent smacked a comebacker off the leg of reliever Felipe Paulino for an RBI infield hit. The ball ricocheted to third where Silverio picked up and threw errantly into the stands behind first allowing a second run to score on his third error of the night and the Skeeters’ fourth as a team. Henry Castillo punctuated the offensive effort by drilling a two-run double to the gap in left-center to close the scoring.
Victor Capellan and Jameson McGrane each fired scoreless innings in relief to close it out.
Notes: Nash breaks a tie with Bryant Nelson (2011) for most postseason home runs in a York uniform with his fourth. Nash reached base all five times, as his three walks tied a Revs postseason record previously shared by Ian Bladergroen, Ramon Castro, and Jared Mitchell. York drew seven walks in the game, two shy of a club playoff record for a nine-inning contest, while issuing just one walk as a staff. Tuesday marked York’s 38th postseason game all-time as the Revs improve to 21-17 (9-11 on the road). York snaps a five-game postseason losing streak against Sugar Land, improving to 3-6 in postseason play against the Skeeters (2-3 on road). The Revs improve to 9-7 in postseason play under manager Mark Mason, having won seven of the last eight including five in-a-row dating back to 2017. York improves to 7-4 all-time in playoff series openers (3-3 road). Revs righty Dan Minor (8-9, 4.92) faces Sugar Land right-hander Carlos Pimentel (6-4, 3.92) in Game Two on Wednesday at 7:35 p.m. ET. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK on YouTube beginning at 7:15 p.m. ET with Darrell Henry on the call.
