(August 25, 2021 – Central Islip, NY): The York Revolution used a similar script from the night before with three more big home runs and another clutch effort on the mound, defeating the Long Island Ducks, 7-2 on Wednesday evening in front of 5,185 fans at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. The win is the third straight for the Revs who will go for a sweep on Thursday before returning home to kick off a 10-game homestand on Friday evening.
After seeing the opponent score the game’s first run in eight consecutive games, the Revs struck first for the second straight night as Nellie Rodriguez worked a full count and hammered a leadoff home run to right-center in the top of the second, his 13th of the year.
Darian Sandford sparked another run in the third with a leadoff walk and his league-leading 47th stolen base before moving to third on a wild pitch and scoring on James Harris’ sac fly to left for a 2-0 lead.
Revs starter Jhoendri Herrera was outstanding in working out of trouble throughout the night. The righty had two aboard in the second before retiring the next three batters, and escaped a bases loaded, one-out jam in a scoreless third.
Long Island finally cracked the run column in the fourth on a Vladimir Frias ground ball single to right, but Harris threw home to nail Daniel Fields in a rundown for the second out, as Herrera and the Revs maintained the lead at 2-1, escaping bases loaded trouble for the second straight inning.
Melky Mesa drilled a solo homer to left with two outs in the sixth, becoming the fifth member of the Revs’ 50-home run club and extending the lead to 3-1 on his 10th of the season.
Herrera (2-1) was lifted after a one-out walk in the sixth, as Brandon Fry worked another scoreless outing, recording the final two outs.
Alberto Rodriguez carried the torch for the bullpen effort in the seventh, retiring the final two after walking the bases loaded with one out.
York scratched out an insurance run in the top of the eighth as Osmy Gregorio ripped an RBI single up the middle to make it 4-1.
Long Island rallied with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, cutting it to 4-2 on a Steve Lombardozzi RBI single to right.
Revs manager Mark Mason called on closer Jim Fuller with two aboard in the bottom of the eighth, seeking a four-out save. Fuller struck out Chris Shaw to end the eighth, and handled a perfect ninth for his league-leading 18th save, tying Michael Nix (2011) for sixth on the Revs single-season list.
Harris clobbered a three-run homer down the left field line with two outs in the top of the ninth, busting the game open to a 7-2 margin and capping a four-RBI night.
Notes: Herrera (2-1) picked up his first Revs victory, defeating his former team with 5.1 innings of one-run ball. Fry logged his seventh scoreless outing in the last eight. Alberto Rodriguez was scoreless for the sixth time in the last seven. Nellie Rodriguez hit his eighth home run in the last 17 games. Mesa joined Telvin Nash, Andres Perez, Chris Nowak, and Isaias Tejeda on the Revs’ all-time 50-home run club. With three home runs on back-to-back nights, the Revs have hit 19 home runs in the last 10 games. With two steals, Sandford now leads the league with 48 on the season, pulling within seven of the franchise single-season record of 55 set by Wilson Valdez in 2014. The Revs have won three straight for the first time since July 29-31 and snap a four-series road losing streak. York righty Duke von Schamann (4-6, 5.84) faces Long Island right-hander Joe Iorio (8-2, 4.97) on Thursday 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.
