(July 30, 2017 – New Britain, Ct.): The York Revolution scored six times in the first inning and rolled to a 9-2 win over the New Britain Bees in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon in front of 3,731 fans at New Britain Stadium. The Revs improve to 13-10 in the second half, remaining within 2.0 games of first place, and return home to open a three-game series against the Long Island Ducks on Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
Alonzo Harris slammed the game’s first pitch over the left field foul pole for a leadoff home run to immediately ignite the offense. It was his fourth home run in six games and second leadoff home run in four games. After a lengthy argument that resulted in the ejection of New Britain manager Stan Cliburn, Alexi Casilla and Isaias Tejeda followed with singles, setting up the Revs for more. With one out, Luis Cruz singled to load the bases. Jared Mitchell followed with a base hit to center, bringing Casilla home to make it 2-0. Carlos Triunfel launched a grand slam to left, as the lead ballooned to 6-0. The six-run first inning tied the biggest in Revs history.
Michael Burgess added a line drive home run to right field in the third, retying Harris and Tejeda for the team lead with his 12th of the year and increasing the lead to 7-0.
Conor Bierfeldt got New Britain on the board with a two-run homer down the left field line in the bottom of the fourth, his 16th of the year. It came after narrowly missing a potential two-run home run to the same direction on a foul ball two innings earlier.
The Revs responded in the sixth, as Travis Witherspoon singled with two outs, stole second, and scored on a ground rule double down the left field line by Harris who went 3-for-5 in the game, extending his hitting streak to nine consecutive contests. Casilla followed with an RBI single up the middle, plating Harris to give York a 9-2 lead.
Revs starter Jay Gause (6-1) allowed just two runs on four hits over six innings to earn the win. He walked four and struck out five, and has now held opponents to two runs or fewer in all seven of his starts.
Joe Van Meter, Luke Westphal, and Michael Click all tossed scoreless innings to finish off the victory.
New Britain starter Brian Dupra (3-8) hung in to give his team seven innings, but was charged with all nine runs on 12 hits in the loss.
Notes: The Revs have won five of their last seven and are now 16-10 in their last 26 games overall. The only other time York scored six times in the first inning of a game was May 29, 2012 in an 11-1 win at Bridgeport. Witherspoon’s stolen base marked his 14th of the season and 48th of his Revolution career, breaking a tie for fourth in franchise history with Keoni DeRenne (2007-09). The Revs have won eight consecutive series finales, and are now 5-1-2 in those series. The Revs have won three consecutive road series, and are 3-0-1 in road series in the second half. Triunfel’s grand slam is the Revs’ third of the season and first since Tejeda connected on one vs. New Britain, May 23 at PeoplesBank Park. Tejeda extended his hitting streak to eight straight games with a first inning single. Harris becomes the eighth in Revs history to hit multiple first inning leadoff home runs in his York career and first since Jason Repko who hit two in 2016. The Revs scored eight runs or more for the fifth time in their last 10 games. York righty Victor Mateo (4-6, 3.73) will face Long Island right-hander Matt Larkins (4-6, 4.21) in Monday’s opener. It is a Hunger Free Monday presented by United Fiber & Data for the York County Food Bank as fans who bring a non-perishable food item get a free ticket to the game. It is also Unused Ticket Redemption Night and Lacrosse Night. Tickets are on sale at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS, and in-person at the Apple Chevrolet Ticket Office.
