MWL1 Quad Cities River Bandits

Castillo tosses gem

Published on July 3, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


The Quad Cities River Bandits put on a show for a packed house on Thursday night, as 18-year-old right-hander Richard Castillo tossed seven shutout frames to lead the home team to a 2-1 victory over the Cedar Rapids Kernels in front of 6,649 raucous fans at Modern Woodmen Park on the eve of the Fourth of July.

Quad Cities (7-8, 40-39) snapped a brief three-game losing streak in front of the second biggest crowd of the season, checking in right behind a June 10 ballgame that saw 6,822 fans pile into Modern Woodmen Park for the largest crowd since 1999. Cedar Rapids (10-5, 42-41) was unable to muster any offense against River Bandits' starter Richard Castillo, who dominated the Kernels with impeccable control of his fastball and changeup.

Castillo (2-1), making just his third Midwest League start at the tender age of 18, twirled a career-high seven innings without allowing a run. Cedar Rapids mustered just four hits off the Venezuelan, who struck out four and walked two. After retiring the first 10 batters he faced, Castillo worked around two baserunners each in the fourth, fifth, and sixth before retiring the side in order in the seventh inning for his fourth perfect frame of the night.

Meanwhile, the River Bandits offense did just enough to pick up the win.

After scoring three runs and managing only one hit in Wednesday night's loss, the River Bandits found their way to the scoreboard without a base knock in the first inning on Thursday. Pete Kozma was at second with one out when Brett Wallace hit a groundball towards short, but Jerry Gonzalez made an errant throw in his attempt to cut down the lead runner at third. The end result was Wallace at second and Kozma at third, setting the stage for Carlos Pupo to give the home team an early 1-0 lead with an RBI-groundout.

That score held until the bottom of the fourth. Francisco Rivera ripped a single into right field with one out to get the rally started. One batter later Tommy Pham pulled a double inside the left field line, scoring Rivera all the way from first to push the lead to 2-0.

In the eighth, Wallace slapped a single through the left side of the infield for his first professional hit. The Cardinals first-round pick in the 2008 draft, taken 13th overall out of Arizona State, was playing in his second pro game after signing with St. Louis on Tuesday and making his professional debut on Wednesday.

The Kernels did not get on the board until the ninth, when Jay Brossman launched a one-out solo homer onto the left field berm. The third baseman has terrorized River Bandits pitching this year, batting .432 with three homers, eight RBI, and 10 runs scored in 10 ballgames.

But Pete Parise (7) entered the game and retired the next two batters in order, striking out Tyler Johnson to end the game and notch his seventh save of the year.

Jordan Walden (4-6) suffered the tough-luck loss for Cedar Rapids. The Angels' pitching prospect threw seven strong innings and allowed just one earned run - two total - on six hits.

Check out the Quad Cities River Bandits Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from July 3, 2008


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