(August 6, 2017 – New Britain, Ct.): The York Revolution saw their season-best five-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon, falling to the New Britain Bees 3-1 in front of 2,944 fans at New Britain Stadium. The Revs, now 18-12 in the second half, settle for winning three out of four in the series and remain two games out of first place, continuing their road trip to Somerset on Monday night.
York struck early, scoring a run in the top of the first inning. Alexi Casilla doubled down the left field line with one out. After a groundout advanced Casilla to third, Michael Burgess drew a two-out walk, and Dayron Varona muscled a bloop RBI single to shallow left for a 1-0 lead.
New Britain threatened to erase the lead immediately as an error, a bunt single by Michael Crouse, and a walk loaded the bases with no outs, but Revs starter Frank Gailey righted the ship, striking out Jamar Walton, recording an out at the plate on a fielder’s choice grounder to third baseman Chase Simpson, and retiring Jordan Hinshaw on a comebacker to the mound to escape unscathed.
Casilla drove a one-out double to deep left-center in the third, but Bees starter Greg Nappo struck out the next two batters, beginning a stretch on which he retired eight consecutive hitters.
Gailey retired 11 straight after the early jam and 15 of 16 batters through five innings, carrying a one-hit shutout into the sixth inning for the second consecutive start. Crouse led off the inning with a base hit but was thrown out by catcher Luis Cruz attempting to steal second. The game turned, however, as Jovan Rosa followed with an opposite field home run to right-center, and two pitches later, Walton connected on a homer to right as the Bees’ back-to-back shots gave New Britain a 2-1 lead.
Joe Van Meter followed Gailey with a 1-2-3 seventh, but the Bees would muster an insurance run on a two-out RBI single by Conor Bierfeldt in the eighth off reliever Jared Gaynor. The Bees had set the table by way of a bloop single and an infield single earlier in the inning.
Shawn Gilblair closed it out with his 10th save, tossing a scoreless ninth as the third reliever out of the bullpen for New Britain. Gilblair allowed only a two-out infield single by Varona (2-for-4), the Revs’ first hit since the third inning as the Bees combined to limit York to four hits.
Nappo (1-1) picked up the win, allowing just three hits and one run in a season-high 6.2 innings, striking out six while walking only one batter.
Gailey (9-8) suffered the tough luck loss, giving up only two runs on four hits in six innings as he remains tied for the league lead with nine victories.
Notes: The Revs were denied in their attempt to finalize the first four-game road sweep in franchise history. York is now 21-12 since June 30, and has won four straight series. The loss snapped a season-best four-game road winning streak. York was held to four hits, their fewest in a game since July 22, as the offense entered Sunday’s game batting .334 as a team over its previous 13 contests. York righty Steve Janas (2-5, 4.79) will start Monday opposite Somerset southpaw Mike Antonini (0-0, 0.00) with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 1350, woyk1350.com, and on the WOYK app beginning at 6:45 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.
