(June 7, 2022 – Central Islip, NY): Carlos Franco hammered an opposite field home run down the left field line with one out in the ninth, powering the York Revolution to a 6-5 victory over the Long Island Ducks in the opening game of a 12-game, 13-day road trip on Tuesday night at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.
The Revs were held hitless through the first four innings by Ducks starter Anderson DeLeon, who set down his first 10 batters of the night, but York’s offense awakened in the fifth, plating three runs on five hits to build a 3-0 lead. JC Encarnacion tapped an infield single on the left side to start things off and went to third when Jhon Nunez singled to left-center. Jack Kenley got a hanging breaking ball on an 0-2 count and roped an RBI single to right for the game’s first run. With two outs and two strikes, Elmer Reyes muscled an RBI single down the right field line for the second run, extending his hitting streak to eight games in the process. Melky Mesa followed with an RBI double to the gap in left-center on the next pitch, extending the lead to 3-0 with a pair of clutch two-out runs to cap the rally.
Long Island answered just as quickly. After being scoreless on two hits through four innings against Revs starter Jorge Martinez who set down 10 straight at one point including four consecutive strikeouts, the Ducks rallied for three runs on four hits of their own. Joe DeCarlo began things innocently with a bloop single to left and Austin Rei chipped a soft liner into center to put two aboard. Deven Marrero set down a sacrifice bunt, and Dustin Woodcock capitalized by driving a two-run double off the fence in left. Vladimir Frias followed with a game-tying double to right-center, as the Ducks ripped off a three-run answer, tying the game at 3-3.
Isaac Sanchez struck out the final two batters in the sixth to leave the bases loaded coming out of the Revolution bullpen, keeping the game tied.
York went back on top with two runs in the seventh. Connor Lien dribbled a leadoff single through the right side and stole second to set the table. After Troy Stokes Jr. was hit by a pitch, Reyes drove a deep fly out to left on which Lien tagged and advanced to third. That set up a run on a Mesa ground ball mishandled by a charging Marrero at short for an error. Stokes Jr. took third and Mesa raced to second on the play. After Carlos Franco was intentionally walked to load the bases, Josue Herrera took a walk to force in a run as the Revs took a 5-3 lead.
Long Island inched back in the bottom of the seventh on a Rusney Castillo two-out single to center, then drew even in the eighth as Woodcock singled to center field with one out and two aboard. Kenley made a great sprawling catch on a flare liner off the bat of Frias for the second out, however, preventing further trouble.
Franco provided what finally proved to be the game winner, hammering an opposite field homer down the left field line with one out in the top of the ninth. It was his 14th of the season and seventh in the last nine games, giving him a whopping 18 RBI in those nine.
Jim Fuller yielded a two-out walk and a single in the bottom of the ninth but struck out Rei looking to secure the win and his eighth save of the season.
Notes: Franco now has 44 RBI on the season, already within 10 of a Revs’ first half franchise record (54, Telvin Nash, 2019). He is now 21-for-40 over his last 10 games, batting .525 on that stretch. Fuller now has 37 saves in his Revs career, two shy of Mike DeMark’s career franchise record. He also now has 62 saves in his Atlantic League career, two away from matching former Sugar Land closer Felipe Paulino for seventh on the league’s all-time list. The Revs are now 13-10 in their last 23 games after a 4-14 start. York has also won three of its last four and four of its last six overall. Revs righty Nick Travieso will face Akeel Morris in Wednesday’s contest 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.
