Bridgeport Bluefish (67-54, 35-23) @ York Revolution (69-50, 33-23)

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Sovereign Bank Stadium:  York, PA

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CASTRO CRUSHES ANOTHER CLUTCH SHOT AS REVS LOWER MAGIC NUMBER TO TWO; COULD CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT

With a flair for the dramatic, the York Revolution pulled off another huge comeback, and did so during a clutch date on the schedule, stunning the Bridgeport Bluefish with a 10-9 victory in front of 3,804 fans at Sovereign Bank Stadium on Tuesday night.  Ramon Castro’s three-run homerun with two outs in the bottom of the eighth cemented the five-run comeback which tied the largest of the season.  As a result, the Revs lower their magic number to two games over Lancaster, setting up a chance to clinch a playoff berth as early as Wednesday night.  York leads the division by 4.5 games.

The Revs trailed 7-2 heading to the bottom of the sixth, but outscored Bridgeport 8-2 the rest of the way.  York ripped off three runs in the sixth to climb back in the game, as Vince Harrison drove in one on a groundout, Liubiemithz Rodriguez drove a two-out RBI double to left, and Salvador Paniagua plated one more on a single to center.

Chris Nowak’s two-run double down the first base line tied the score at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh, but the Revs needed yet another comeback to finish the effort thanks to Brock Peterson’s two-run double with two outs in the top of the eighth, briefly lifting the Bluefish back on top at 9-7.

With two on and two out, Castro struck a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left-center, giving the Revs their only lead of the night, and the winning margin.

R.J. Rodriguez nailed down his fifth save in six nights with a scoreless ninth inning.

Bridgeport dealt the initial blow scoring four times in the second on a three-run homer to center by Peterson, followed by a homerun to left-center off the bat of Luis Rodriguez.  The back-to-back shots gave the Bluefish a 4-0 head start on the scoring.

Nowak launched the first pitch in the bottom of the second over the Arch Nemesis to get the Revs on the board.  It was his 24^th homerun of the season, tying the Revs’ single-season club record previously established by Jason Aspito in 2008.  Incredibly, Nowak has done it in only 79 games played.

The two teams traded solo blasts in the fourth, with Steve Moss connecting to left field for Bridgeport, and Bryant Nelson doing the same to right field for York, leaving the score 5-2 in favor of the Bluefish.

Andres Perez cracked a two-run homer to left-center in the top of the fifth extending Bridgeport’s lead to 7-2.  It was Bridgeport’s fourth homerun on the night, but only set the stage for the Revs’ big comeback.

Sean Stidfole (5-4) earned the win in relief despite allowing two runs in the top of the eighth.

Antonio Alfonseca (3-6) took the loss for Bridgeport, surrendering Castro’s homerun.

Notes: Castro has hit 12 of his 13 homeruns this season at Sovereign Bank Stadium.  Nowak’s homerun ended a nine-game homerun drought, his longest since going 10 games without a homerun to begin July.  The Revs have matched their all-time high at 19 games over .500.  With 69 wins, they are two shy of matching the club’s all-time record for a single season.  With 42 home wins, the Revs are one shy of matching the club’s single-season record for victories at Sovereign Bank Stadium.  The Revs are now 12-4 against Bridgeport for the season, including 7-0 at home.  York’s Corey Thurman (12-3, 3.33) will face Bridgeport’s Matt Pike (8-6, 3.69) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.  The Revs can clinch a playoff berth with a victory and a Lancaster loss.  Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for a Wing Wednesday and “1925 Prices Night”, as the Revs pay homage to the 1925 New York-Penn League champion York White Roses.  Field box tickets cost just 25 cents, with 25 cent specials on some food items as well.  Tickets are available at YorkRevolution.com, (717) 801-HITS and in-person at the Apple Chevrolet Ticket Office.