FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Castillo Leads Cardinals to 3-1 Victory

August 10, 2011 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


JUPITER, Fla. -Richard Castillo pitched a season-high 7.2 innings and Greg Garcia and Edgar Lara both homered to lead the Palm Beach Cardinals (25-22, 53-62) to a 3-1 victory over the Charlotte Stone Crabs (26-20, 56-59) Wednesday night in game two of a three-game series at Roger Dean Stadium.

Castillo (3-3, 4.38 ERA) allowed just five hits and one earned run into the eighth inning of his seventh start for Palm Beach this season, picking up his third straight win - second in a row against the Stone Crabs - in the process. The fourth-year righty, signed by the Cardinals in 2007 out of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, walked one while striking out five and forced 11 of the remaining 13 outs on the ground. Castillo began the 2011 season with Class-AA Springfield after pitching the last two seasons with Palm Beach.

For the third straight game the Cardinals hit a first-inning home run, this time thanks to Garcia's one-out solo shot to left. The second-year University of Hawaii product finished the night 2-for-2, the only Cardinals player to record multiple hits, and now has two homers on the season.

Garcia's blast tied the game at 1-1 after the Stone Crabs had picked up a run in the first off Castillo thanks to a Mark Thomas RBI-single. The tie didn't last long, however, as Lara crushed a ball off the batter's eye in center to leadoff the second and give the Cards a 2-1 lead.

Niko Vasquez added an insurance run in the fourth with a one-out double to left-center, scoring Adam Melker all the way from first. Robert Stock also contributed a double later in the contest as seven of the nine Palm Beach starters came away with at least one hit and all but one reached base.

Keith Butler relieved Castillo in the eighth with a runner aboard and two outs and quickly set down the next four men he faced to notch his team-high seventh save. Butler has now allowed just three earned runs in 30.0 innings (0.90 ERA) while striking out 44.

Starter Alex Koronis (7-7, 4.15 ERA) gave up all three runs in 5.2 innings to suffer the loss for Charlotte.

Palm Beach will look to come away with a series victory and even the six-game homestand at three games apiece tomorrow night in the finale featuring the debut of right-hander Deryk Hooker (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for the Cardinals against righty Jacob Thompson (4-5, 2.87 ERA) for Charlotte. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Roger Dean Stadium.

For more information on the Palm Beach Cardinals, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, please call (561) 775-1818 or visit www.palmbeachcardinals.com . For tickets and more information regarding Roger Dean Stadium, please visit www.rogerdeanstadium.com .

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Florida State League Stories from August 10, 2011


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