(Sept. 9, 2021 – Lancaster, Pa.): The York Revolution picked up a pair of extra inning victories, completing a three-game series sweep of the Lancaster Barnstormers on Thursday evening at Clipper Magazine Stadium. The Revs pull into a tie for second place in the North Division with the wins, just half a game out of first place. York started the evening recording the final two outs of Wednesday’s suspended game for a 9-8 victory in 11 innings, before edging out a 5-4 win in eight innings to finish the Revs’ second consecutive road series sweep.
Thursday’s action began with the resumption of Wednesday’s wild affair. Leading 9-8 with one out in the bottom of the 11th, Victor Capellan returned to the mound with LeDarious Clark representing the tying run at first base following a walk just before a downpour halted play the night before. After Capellan delivered a first-pitch strike to Donald Goodson, catcher Lenin Rodriguez gunned down Clark (previously 21-for-22 in stolen base attempts) attempting to steal second on the second strike. On the next pitch, Capellan capped a three-pitch strike out of Goodson, putting a quick end to the victory and securing his second save of the season.
York opened the scoring in the series finale with back-to-back home runs in the third as Jack Kenley lined his ninth of the season onto the deck in right and Melky Mesa clobbered his 13th on a drive to left-center for a 2-0 lead.
The Revs extended the lead an inning later as Carlos Franco raced home on JC Encarnacion’s RBI ground out to first base to make it 3-0 in the fourth.
York starter Eduardo Rivera faced just one over the minimum through the first 4.1 innings, cruising until Lancaster pieced together a one-out rally in the fifth with Jake Hoover serving an RBI single into right to make it a 3-1 game. Rivera recorded a pair of pop outs to strand the tying two runs in scoring position.
Lancaster rallied again with two outs in the sixth, scoring twice to tie the game at 3-3. Kelly Dugan ripped an RBI single to center that landed just in front of Encarnacion’s diving attempt, and Devon Torrence looped a pinch-hit RBI single to shallow right-center, erasing the Revs’ lead.
York loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but could not capitalize as Lancaster reliever Ryan Eades induced a pair of pop ups to short.
Isaac Sanchez (4-0) relieved Rivera with a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh and stayed in to run at second base as the eighth inning got underway.
Josue Herrera came up with a clutch ground out to first base, advancing Sanchez to third. Following an intentional walk to Encarnacion, Osmy Gregorio lined a sac fly to right where Blake Gailen made a sliding grab, but Sanchez raced home from third and dove headfirst across the plate for the go-ahead run. Rodriguez clobbered an RBI double to deep left for a critical insurance run to go up 5-3.
Blake Allemand doubled off the right field fence leading off the home eighth, plating Caleb Gindl to cut the lead back to one run at 5-4. With the tying run at second, Revs closer Jim Fuller buckled down to retire Alejandro De Aza on a fly out to shallow left, Gailen on a pop up to short, and Dugan on a liner to left field, securing his 22nd save and the Revs’ third win in-a-row.
Notes: York’s six-game road winning streak is now the second-longest in franchise history behind only a 12-gamer in 2019. The sweep is the third of three games or more all-time for the Revs at Clipper Magazine Stadium. The suspended game was the sixth in regular season play in Revs history and first since 2018. York improves to 5-2 in extra-inning games including a 3-2 mark against Lancaster (2-2 at Clipper Magazine Stadium). Of York’s seven extra-inning games, five have come against the Barnstormers and four have occurred at Clipper Magazine Stadium. York played back-to-back extra-inning games for the first time since the final week of the 2019 season. The Revs take an 11-10 lead in the War of the Roses series with the final four meetings of the season occurring in York next week. The Revs finish the season series 7-5 in Lancaster. Kenley and Mesa provided the Revs’ third set of back-to-back homers this season and first since June 18; Welington Dotel and Carlos Castro combined for each of the previous two sets. Mesa established a new franchise record for RBI vs. one opponent in a season with his 28th RBI in 19 games played against the Barnstormers, besting the previous mark of 27 RBI set by James Shanks in 2010, also against Lancaster. Mesa homered for the 10th time in his last 25 road starts. The home run was the 53rd of his Revs career, fourth-most all-time. Fuller’s 22 saves lead the league and match Juan Rincon (2013) for fourth-most in a season in club history and seventh-most on the career list. York is now 12-5 in its last 17 games overall. The Revs move into second place, their highest standing since being tied for first at the end of each of the first two games of the second half (Aug. 4-5). York is also just half a game back, its closest position in the standings since the first two games of the half. The Revs open a four-game weekend series at Southern Maryland with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. The Revs and Blue Crabs are tied for second place in the North Division, half a game behind Long Island. Revs fans can catch the action live on the WOYK YouTube channel with Darrell Henry on the call.
