Nowak

LANCASTER -- Horacio Ramirez has some good credentials as a major league pitcher.

He has a total of 169 appearances, 105 of them starts, at the big-league level with six different clubs from 2003 to 2011. His 4.65 ERA wasn't stellar, but the California native can still say he was featured in a starting rotation alongside some notable pitchers, including Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, among others.

Although the Lancaster Barnstormers pitcher admits he's comfortable as a reliever or a starter, it's easy to see why he has found recent success returning to the starting rotation, a role he hasn't been in since 2009.

The left-hander held visiting York to three runs on six hits in six innings Tuesday night in Lancaster, striking out six and walking none, to lead the Barnstormers to a 4-3 victory over the Revs in the series opener.

"He uses all of his pitches. He's not afraid to use his fastball. He threw six innings. The only runs he gave up were two home runs and he didn't walk nobody," Revs' manager Andy Etchebarren said of Ramirez. "He had six punch-outs (strikeouts). He's got good stuff. That's why (Lancaster manager) Butch (Hobson) put him in the rotation."

With the win, Lancaster (60-34 overall, 15-9 second half) moved three games up on York (48-46, 12-12) in the Atlantic League Freedom Division second-half race. The Barnstormers also evened this year's "War of the Roses" series at nine games apiece with two regular-season games remaining between the clubs on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ramirez: Ramirez joined Lancaster in mid-June after pitching in Korea earlier this season.

Lancaster used the 32-year-old veteran mostly as a reliever until putting him into the starting rotation a couple weeks ago. In his third straight start Tuesday, the lefty made just two mistakes. The first came in the second inning when Andres Perez hit a leadoff solo homer to left field. Later in the sixth inning, York's Chris Nowak sent a 3-2 pitch from Ramirez out of the park just to the left of the 400-foot mark in center field to tie the game, 3-3.

"It's all right. The solo one I can live with," Ramirez said of the homers. "The other one was a bad pitch and he (Nowak) got his hands in."

Ramirez (1-0) now has a 3.00 ERA in his last three starts and improved his overall ERA on the season to 2.43, including a 1.76 ERA in four games against York.

Waters: York starter Chris Waters struggled with his control in his 42/3 innings of work.

The former Baltimore Orioles' starter allowed three runs on seven hits while walking four and striking out one. He threw first-pitch balls to 15 of 23 batters he faced and has now pitched less than five innings in seven of his 10 starts this season.

Lancaster got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth off Revs' reliever Yunior Novoa on an RBI single from Lancaster leadoff man Adam Godwin, who went 3-for-4 with a run scored.

Game notes: Nowak now has 20 homers on the season, one shy of Bridgeport's Brock Peterson for the Atlantic League lead. ... Tuesday's game marked the first of a season-long nine-game road trip for the Revs. ... Of the 18 games between Lancaster and York this season, 11 have been decided by three runs or less, seven by two runs or less and five by one run. ... York left-hander Chris Cody (6-11, 4.80 ERA) will get the start Wednesday against Lancaster lefty John Halama (8-6, 2.97).

Promotion resched uled: Following the Revs' game vs. Long Island on Friday, Aug. 31, stuntman Ted Batchelor will bring his national act to Sovereign Bank Stadium.

Batchelor will light himself on fire and run the bases. After rain on July 15 extinguished the act the first time, it's been re-scheduled. The event is sponsored by Keystone Restorations. Batchelor is the Guinness World Record holder for "Longest Run on Full Body Burn." In 2010, his running the bases on fire stunt was named Promotion of The Year by ESPN.

First pitch on Aug. 31 is set for 6:30 p.m.

-- Reach John Walk at jwalk@yorkdispatch.com.