(May 18, 2019 – Sugar Land, TX): The York Revolution received another big offensive performance and this time the bullpen held it down in a 9-6 victory over the Sugar Land Skeeters in front of 5,536 fans at Constellation Field on Friday night. The win snaps a three-game slide for the Revs who still have a chance to win the series (2-3) with the sixth of seven games set for Saturday evening.
The offense managed only a walk through the first three innings against Skeeters starter Dallas Beeler who faced the minimum during that stretch, as York’s team-wide scoreless streak climbed to 23 consecutive innings, tied for the second longest streak in team history and longest since 2015.
Sugar Land grabbed a 1-0 lead when Jason Martinson walked and scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the second, but York starter Jay Miller retired the side in order in two of his first three innings.
The Revs broke out offensively in spectacular fashion in the fourth, plating six runs in their biggest inning of the season thus far. It all started as James Skelton drew a leadoff walk, and with one out, Telvin Nash and Isaias Tejeda ripped singles to load the bases. Henry Castillo ended the drought with an RBI base hit to left field, tying the score. Melky Mesa followed with a three-run triple past the diving attempt of right fielder Willy Taveras, as the proverbial floodgates opened and the Revs built a 4-1 lead. After a walk to Welington Dotel and a fielder’s choice, Ryan Dent roped a two-out single to left to load the bases again. Skelton and Alexi Casilla followed with free passes, forcing in a pair of runs as the lead grew to 6-1.
York was denied of the shutdown inning it was seeking in the bottom half as the Skeeters mounted their own rally and answered right back. Juan Silverio took a leadoff walk and Martinson singled to put runners at the corners. Cody Stanley skied a sac fly to center for the first out, and the rally continued as Denis Phipps doubled off the wall in left and Ryan Jackson lined a two-run single to right-center. Jackson was thrown out trying to advance to second, but two more singles prompted Miller’s exit as the Revs’ once sizeable lead was immediately threatened. Pat Young entered and lost Anthony Giansanti to a walk after a lengthy battle, but retired Jared Mitchell on a bases loaded ground out to second, keeping York in front 6-4.
The Revs came up with a monumental response in the top of the fifth. Castillo and Mesa each took one-out walks from reliever Luke Irvine, and with two outs, Nate Coronado was plunked by a pitch to load the bases. Dent capitalized in a huge way by lining a bases-clearing three-run double to right-center, as the lead was suddenly back to five at 9-4.
Julio Perez retired the side in order in the fifth but ran into trouble in the sixth beginning with a pair of walks. A third walk to Taveras loaded the bases with one out, and Mitchell came through with two outs on a two-run single to center, cutting the lead to 9-6. Perez retired Silverio on a liner to right to end the threat.
Ian Thomas was greeted by a walk to Martinson and a Stanley single to spark trouble in the seventh, but the lefty came back to whiff Phipps on a heavy dose of change ups, and strike out Jackson looking. After a walk to load the bases, Thomas (1-0) retired Willy Taveras on a fly out to left, freezing the lead where it stood and ultimately earning credit for the win in the process.
Jarret Martin bounced back from a pair of tough outings with a scoreless eighth, striking out two and allowing just a seeing-eye single to Silverio with two outs.
Josh Judy quickly retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out Jackson looking to claim his first save of the year. The save was the 13th of his Revs career, moving into a tie with Grant Sides for 10th most in franchise history.
Notes: York’s bullpen allowed just two runs in 5.1 innings, and has allowed just two runs in 9.2 innings over the last three games. Young has now worked three consecutive scoreless appearances to begin his season. Judy’s scoreless outing was his fourth in-a-row. The Revs have scored at least eight runs in three of the first five games of their series in Sugar Land while being shut out in the other two; they had only scored eight or more runs four times in 69 previous regular season visits. The Revs have enjoyed their two biggest innings of the season on this road trip: Friday’s six-run fourth inning and a five-run eighth on Tuesday. Casilla returned for the first time since May 6, having missed the previous nine games with a finger injury. Tejeda (1-for-4) is now 9-for-21 (.429) in the series and is hitting .404 (23-for-57) over his last 14 games. Dent made the 218th start of his Revs career at shortstop, tying Wilson Valdez (2014-15) for the club record. York righty Mitch Atkins (1-1, 4.50) squares off with Sugar Land right-hander Mitch Talbot (0-2, 4.96) on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET. Revs fans can catch the action live on SportsRadio 98.9 FM & 1350 WOYK, 989woyk.com, The New WOYK app, and WOYK on YouTube beginning at 6:45 p.m. ET with Darrell Henry on the call.
