YORK, Pa. – The High Point Rockers saw their five-game winning streak come to a halt on Tuesday night with an 11-6 loss to the York Revolution at WellSpan Park.
The game bounced back and forth and was tied 6-6 after six before the Revs pulled away, scoring the final five runs of the game.
The Rockers are now 34-22 in the second half. Gastonia was trailing 5-3 in the ninth inning on Tuesday evening.
Shed Long, Jr. sent the first pitch of the game over the fence in right-center off York starter Tom Sutera as High Point took a 1-0 lead.
York tied the game in the second on back-to-back doubles by Jhon Nunez and Jacob Rhinesmith. After High Point starter Craig Stem struck out the next two hitters, Alejandro Rivero singled to right to score Rhinesmith and give the Revs a 2-1 lead.
High Point forged a 2-2 tie in the third when Long, Jr. led off the inning with a single and stole second. He moved to third on a groundout by Daikan Yoh and scored on a sac fly by Ben Aklinski.
In the fourth, York opened the inning with consecutive singles by Nunez and Rhinesmith before Richard Urena doubled to left to bring Nunez across the plate and put York on top 3-2. But Stem was able to control the damage by striking out Ryan January and Rivero before getting Alexis Pantoja to ground out to first to end the inning.
The Revolution extended the lead to 5-2 in the fifth when Nellie Rodriguez singled and scored on a home run by Drew Mendoza, his 14th of the year. Nunez then drew a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch by Stem and scored on a Urena single for a 6-2 lead. But the Rockers answered right back, scoring four times in the top of the sixth to re-tie the game at 6-6. A couple of York errors coupled with a two-run single by Long, Jr. and an RBI single from Aklinski sent the game into the bottom of the sixth.
With Austin Ross (L, 2-3) replacing Stem on the mound, Nellie Rodriguez homered with one aboard to lift York to an 8-6 lead. A solo homer by Urena in the seventh and a two-run single by Trey Martin off Kyle Halbohn gave the Revs an 11-6 lead after seven.
Long, Jr. and Diego Goris each had three hits for the Rockers with Long driving in two runs. Aklinski had one hit and two RBI to push his club record total to 102.
The second game of the three-game series is slated for a 6:30 p.m. start on Wednesday at WellSpan Park. The game will be streamed live on FLO Baseball and also available on the Mixlr app.
NOTES: The Rockers acquired Nilo Rijo from the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League. He is expected to fill-in in the outfield after John Daly aggravated a foot injury recently.
