(June 17, 2022 – Staten Island, NY): Melky Mesa threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning as the York Revolution completed a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Staten Island FerryHawks on Friday evening at Staten Island University Hospital Northwell Health Community Park.
The Revs used the long ball to build their lead as Nellie Rodriguez lined an opposite field solo shot inside the right field foul pole in the top of the fourth, and JC Encarnacion hammered a two-run blast to left in the top of the fifth inning for a 3-0 lead. York only managed two additional hits, both infield hits, the rest of the night.
Revs starter Eduardo Rivera (4-1) fired six shutout innings to earn the win. The righty struck out four and worked around five hits along with three walks, all in the fourth inning, retiring Joseph Monge on a double play grounder to Carlos Franco at third base, escaping his biggest jam of the night.
The FerryHawks scored two runs in the seventh on a Bryan Gonzalez RBI single to left-center and a two-out bases loaded walk to Mariel Bautista, but reliever Isaac Sanchez retired Alfredo Reyes on a fly out to center as the FerryHawks left the bases loaded for the second time.
Nick Howard struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth and Jim Fuller earned his ninth save with help from his defense in the ninth. After Bautista extended the game by legging out an infield single to put two aboard, Reyes lined a base hit into left, but Mesa came up firing a strike to the plate with catcher Lenin Rodriguez making a great pick and tag of Dilson Herrera attempting to score, finishing the white-knuckle victory.
Notes: The win is Mark Mason’s 572nd as Revolution manager, tying former Bridgeport skipper Willie Upshaw for fourth on the Atlantic League’s all-time list. York improves to 6-4 on its current road trip with two games remaining. Fuller’s save is the 38th of his Revs career, one shy of matching Mike DeMark’s franchise record. Mesa’s outfield assist is his fourth this season and 25th of his Revs career, third-most in franchise history behind only Scott Grimes (32) and James Shanks (29). The Revs set a new club record by homering in a 16th consecutive game, totaling 31 long balls on that stretch to take the league lead with 61 home runs on the season; the streak bests the previous record of 15 consecutive games with a home run set in July, 2019. Revs righty Jorge Martinez faces Nick Carrell in Saturday’s contest at 6 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 5:40 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
