Ducks lose to York; final series even
York's Ramon Castro is congratulated at home by Scott Grimes (22) and Bryant Nelson (34) after his three-run homer in the top of the third. (Sept. 29, 2011) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
An eerie sense of déjà vu played out in the early innings of Game 2 of the Atlantic League Championship Series Thursday night at Bethpage Ballpark.
Ducks starter Josh Banks failed to make it out of the third inning for the second time this postseason, giving up five hits and six runs in 2 1/3 innings to the York (Pa.) Revolution.
York wound up with a 9-0 victory in front of 4,605 to even the best-of-five series at 1. Game 3 is at 6:30 Friday night at York's Sovereign Bank Stadium.
In two postseason starts, Banks has allowed 11 earned runs in five innings.
"He just fell behind, and when you fall behind against a good-hitting team, they become better hitters," manager Kevin Baez said. "He left the ball out over the plate and gave up a couple of home runs."
Val Majewski hit a two-run home run in the second off the outstretched glove of centerfielder Lew Ford to make it 2-0. With two on and one out in the third, Ramon Castro's home run made it 5-0, and Chris Nowak followed with a solo shot that ended Banks' night.
The Ducks threatened in the fourth when John Rodriguez doubled with one out and Matt Padgett and Ford walked to load the bases, but Freddie Thon's soft liner was snagged by Revolution starter Lorenzo Barcelo. The righthander kept the Ducks' bats quiet most of the evening, allowing only three hits through five innings before escaping a bases-loaded jam in the sixth by getting Thon to fly out to deep centerfield.
"Honestly, I felt too good at the plate," Thon said. "I was trying to do too much, trying to put a spark in the game."
Barcelo tossed six scoreless innings, striking out five.
The top three hitters in the order for the Ducks -- Kennard Jones, Ray Navarrete and Javier Colina -- went 1-for-12.
"This has been the best offensive team I've ever played on in my life," Navarrete said. "We've scored one run in 18 innings. I wouldn't bet against us scoring some more runs in the next couple of games."
Added Baez: "I believe we can break out at any moment."
In a subdued clubhouse, it was Navarrete, the longest-tenured Duck, who searched for the silver lining. "It doesn't matter if we lost 9-0 like we did or if we lost 9-8," he said. "We fought back hard last week, and we lost Game 2 [of the Liberty Division Championship Series].
"A win is a win and a loss is a loss, and now it is best-two-out-of-three."
