York 7, Charleston 5

(May 29, 2023 – Charleston, WV):  The York Revolution ripped off six runs on six hits in the top of the ninth inning to come from behind and stun the Charleston Dirty Birds with a 7-5 victory on Memorial Day afternoon at GoMart Ballpark. The Revs take three of four in the series and have won five of their last six overall.

Down 5-0 heading to the eighth inning, the comeback began to materialize innocently enough as Jacob Rinesmith lined a sac fly to right to break up Charleston’s combined shutout bid.

Trailing by four and facing Charleston closer Ricardo Gomez in his record 399th Atlantic League appearance, Drew Mendoza ignited the huge ninth with a leadoff double to right center. Richard Urena followed with a base hit to right, and Ryan January was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Trent Giambrone brought home the first run on a ground ball fielder’s choice to third, and Tomo Otosaka ripped a base hit into right field to plate one more and make it 5-3. Otosaka stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Nellie Rodriguez, who nailed a sinking line drive to left that Bobby Bradley was unable to handle, plating Giambrone and Otosaka with the tying runs. Alejandro Rivero followed with a single to left before Gomez induced a fly out for the second out. Trey Martin hit a ground ball to third but second baseman Jalen Miller dropped the throw on the attempted force as the first error of the game kept the inning alive. Mendoza (3-for-5) took full advantage, roping a go-ahead two-run single to right field for his second hit of the inning as the Revs stormed in front in exhilarating fashion.

Closer Blake Rogers was greeted with a leadoff single by Diego Goris (3-for-4) in the bottom of the ninth but retired the next three, striking out the final two to nail down his fifth save and complete the dramatic comeback victory.

The Revs struggled to get anything going offensively until the final innings as Birds starter Danny Wirchansky struck out seven and allowed just two hits, an infield single by January and a bunt hit by Otosaka, in six shutout innings.

Charleston drew first blood in the bottom of the second as Bradley led off with a double to right and scored on a two-out single to right by Goris for the game’s first run.

Revs starter Jorge Martinez kept it 1-0 into the fifth. Charleston loaded the bases with two outs for Telvin Nash who had been fooled on a pair of strikeouts by Martinez earlier in the day. Martinez appeared to have an inning-ending strikeout on a close pitch that was ruled a ball, and two pitches later, Nash smacked a three-run double to left-center as Charleston’s lead grew to 4-0.

Dwight Smith Jr. added an insurance run on a solo homer to right field in the bottom of the seventh, but that was the only baserunner allowed in two innings of relief by J.T. Hintzen (2-3) who picked up the win.

Will Carter retired the side in order in the sixth inning as the Revs’ first arm out of the bullpen.

Notes: The four-run deficit makes it a top-five largest final at-bat comeback in a game in Revs history and the largest since the 2021 season. The overall five-run comeback is the largest since 2021. The Revs have taken the lead in the sixth inning or later in eight of the last 10 wins. York is 9-6 in comeback games this season. It is the Revs’ third last at-bat victory and second in the last five contests. It is York’s second come-from-behind win this season when trailing after six / seven / eight innings with both coming in the last five days. York is 9-2 in games decided by two runs or fewer. The Revs improve to 15-13 overall and 8-8 on the road. York is now 7-1 in day games. The Revs played error-free defense for the second straight game. Otosaka stole two bags as the Revs are now 43-for-46 in stolen base attempts on the year. Carter worked his fourth straight scoreless outing while Rogers tossed his sixth in-a-row. Hintzen’s relief appearance was his first since Opening Night (April 28). Mendoza is now 6-for-13 over his last three games. The road trip continues to Long Island on Tuesday night as righty Tom Sutera (1-2, 5.70) faces off with Wladimir Pinto (0-0, 5.68) 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 FloBaseball.TV beginning at 6:15 p.m. with Darrell Henry on the call.

Gastonia 9, Lancaster 1 (Game 1)
Lancaster 4, Gastonia 3 (Game 2)

The Honey Hunters were six outs away from sweeping the Barnstormers in Monday’s Memorial Day doubleheader, as they were winning 3-0 in the sixth inning of a seven-inning affair.

Lancaster’s Chris Proctor’s go-ahead grand slam off Tyler Thomas gave the Barnstormers a come-from-behind victory, as Gastonia lost the second game 4-3.

Gastonia dominated Lancaster in Game 1, winning 9-1.

Zach Jarrett hit two home runs – one in the second and one in the fourth – to give him 12 on the year, which is the most in the Atlantic League.

Both of Jarrett’s bombs were two-run shots, so including a run-scoring single he hit in the first inning, Jarrett had five RBIs in the game.

Jarrett’s RBI single produced the first of five runs scored in the first for the Honey Hunters against Lancaster starter Jake Lemoine.

Carlos Franco followed up Jarrett’s single with a two-run double hit to left-center field that split the outfielders and went to the wall.

Steven Sensley and Braxton Davidson each then had run-scoring base hits.

Gastonia scored five runs on six hits, and that’s all the team needed to defeat the Barnstormers.

Jarrett added in a couple homers after the first, and that was all the scoring for the Honey Hunters.

Alex Sanabia had a great outing for Gastonia, throwing five innings of one-run ball and once again not issuing a walk.

He’s now not allowed a batter to reach base via the free pass in three straight starts, and has walked just two while striking out 25 this season.

Sanabia’s goal each year is to have fewer walks than outings.

He’s allowed two walks in six games.

And he helped his team win Game 1 against the Barnstormers.

It looked like his team was also going to win the second game of the doubleheader, but everything changed with one swing – Proctor’s grand slam that he pulled over the right field wall.

The Honey Hunters led 3-0 after Curtis Terry hit his third homer of the year, a solo shot into the parking lot beyond left field, and Carlos Franco hit a ball 417 feet to dead center for a two-run shot.

Zack Godley was on the mound for Gastonia, and he was having a phenomenal performance through five frames.

The right hander pitched five scoreless innings, walking just one and striking out seven.

The sixth, however, was a different story.

Godley was facing the top of the order for the third time, and allowed a leadoff walk to Melvin Mercedes and a single to Andretty Cordero.

After recording his eighth strikeout of the game, Godley walked Trayvon Robinson to load the bases with one out.

Into the game came Tyler Thomas in relief, who has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the league in 2023.

He had only given up one earned run and had struck out 28 in 17.1 innings.

The southpaw was the obvious choice to put into the game in this situation, especially because the lefty Proctor was on deck.

Thomas got Joseph Carpenter to strike out swinging before he faced Proctor, who represented the go-ahead run with the bases juiced and two outs.

The lefty threw 11 pitches in the inning. He threw a slider once.

And the only slider Thomas threw was an 0-1 hanger that Proctor drilled to deep right.

When it landed it gave the Barnstormers a 4-3 lead, which they didn’t relinquish.

Gastonia now has a record of 19-8, and the Honey Hunters are a game and a half behind the High Point Rockers for first place in the South Division.

The two best teams in the Atlantic League will now meet for a three-game set.

The Honey Hunters are hosting the Rockers, and first pitch on Tuesday is at 6:35 p.m.

Lexington 3, Staten Island 2 (Game 1)
Staten Island 6, Lexington 3 (Game 2)