York Revolution off to promising start after hitless season opener

The York Revolution’s 2024 season began without a single hit. But the first week and a half has provided plenty of encouraging signs.

The Revs are off to a 6-4 start, winning six of eight games after being no-hit in their season opener April 25. They’re tied for first place in the Atlantic League’s North division with the two-time defending champion Lancaster Stormers, whom they’ll visit for three games this week.

York split its opening four-game series at home against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars, then took two out of three on the road against the Gastonia Baseball Club. After a doubleheader last Tuesday, the Revs had Wednesday and Thursday off before their series at High Point. They took the first two against the Rockers before losing on Sunday.

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Second-year manager Rick Forney’s team has navigated plenty of changes already this season. One player had his contract purchased by a Major League organization before he played in an official game for the team. Another such signing was announced but not completed. And that’s after a busy offseason saw only a few members of the 2023 squad return to York.

As the pieces settle into place and new characters introduce themselves, however, it looks like local fans will have plenty to cheer for this summer.

The highlights: The Revolution honored the legacy of team co-founder Brooks Robinson on opening night. Robinson, who began his professional baseball career with the York White Roses in 1955 before spending 23 Hall of Fame seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, died in September at age 86. Robinson’s iconic orange No. 5 is now painted into the grass behind home plate.

After the hitless offensive performance that night, Chris Vallimont dazzled in his Revs debut on April 26, tossing five hitless innings and striking out nine. York blew a 1-0 lead in the seventh but scored four runs in the bottom of the frame and held on for a 5-4 victory. The Revolution announced Tuesday that Vallimont’s contract had been purchased by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but the 6-foot-5 righty was back on the bump for York on Sunday. Vallimont is one of the few 2024 Revs with MLB experience, as he made one appearance for the Baltimore Orioles last year.

First baseman Mason Martin became the Revs’ 49th player all-time to rejoin the affiliated ranks, as he signed with the Los Angeles Angels on April 26. The 24-year-old didn’t make a regular-season appearance for York but suited up for one spring training game against Lancaster and went 2 for 4 with a homer. The Revs’ new first baseman, David Washington, was signed prior to the High Point series and homered twice over the weekend.

A wild doubleheader last Tuesday in Gastonia, North Carolina, saw York make a pair of four-run comebacks. The Revs turned a 5-1 deficit into a 6-5 lead in Game 1 before losing 9-6. Then, in Game 2, York trailed 7-2 through four innings but plated four in the fifth and took an 8-7 lead on Donovan Casey’s two-run double in the sixth. Rudy Martin Jr. added a two-run homer in the seventh and the Revs won 10-7.

That nightcap kickstarted a three-game win streak, which featured 6-2 and 8-2 wins at High Point on Friday and Saturday. Catcher Ciaran Devenney blasted two homers in Friday’s victory, while lefty starter Aaron Fletcher stretched his season-opening scoreless streak to 8.2 innings before surrendering a single run Saturday.

The lowlights: Hagerstown’s no-hitter against York on April 25 was the 10th no-no in Atlantic League history and the first involving the Revs. And it came in the Flying Boxcars’ inaugural game. Parker Markel — making his first professional start since 2016 — allowed just a walk and an error in six innings before Domingo Jimenez worked two frames and Enrique Santana closed the door. (Santana made two appearances for the Revs in 2021.)

The York offense didn’t record an extra-base hit until Saturday, but the team was still 2-1 after wins of 5-4 and 7-6. On Sunday, April 28, the Revs took another one-run lead into the ninth after Jacob Rhinesmith’s go-ahead grand slam in the eighth. Hagerstown, however, rallied for a pair of runs against closer Frankie Bartow to win 5-4 and salvage a split. The Boxcars are 1-5 since that series.

After scoring 30 runs in a four-game span last week, the Revs’ bats stayed quiet in Sunday’s 5-1 loss at High Point. Vallimont gave up three runs in five innings thanks to two homers, and York’s only run came on a late homer by Washington. The 4-2 road start is still York’s best such mark through six games since 2018 (the Revs were 4-1 on the road for the first time since 2010).

Up next: Forney’s club is back in Pennsylvania for a midweek series at Lancaster, which is also off to a 6-4 start. It’ll be the first of six series between the rivals this season, four of which are in the first half.

The Revs will return to WellSpan Park on Friday and host Gastonia for a three-game set.