SAL1 Charleston RiverDogs

Castro's Big Night Moves RiverDogs to .500 mark

Published on April 16, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston RiverDogs News Release


CHARLESTON, S.C. - Kelvin Castro went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and three runs scored, as the Charleston RiverDogs downed the Rome Braves, 6-3, in South Atlantic League action Saturday night in front of a crowd of 3,613 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The victory gives the RiverDogs their first two-game winning streak in improving to 5-5, while the Braves lost their second straight to fall to 3-7.

Zach Nuding (1-0) hurled 5.0 innings to register his first professional victory, permitting two runs on four hits while striking out five and issuing two free passes. Nuding finished his outing with a flurry, retiring nine of the final ten batters he faced and fanning four along the way.

A night after connecting for his first home run of the season, Rome's David Rohm smacked a RBI single up the middle to plate the game's first run in the top of the first off Nuding for a 1-0 Braves lead.

The RiverDogs answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the inning as Braves' starter David Filak (0-1) struggled to find the plate. Following a Castro single and a Ramon Flores walk, J.R. Murphy lined a single to left to tie the score, 1-1, and move his team-leading RBI total to ten. Three hitters later, with the bases loaded, Filak uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing Flores to cruise home from third to give the RiverDogs a 2-1 advantage.

Murphy showcased his run producing prowess again in the second inning, dumping a humpback liner into left-centerfield to score Jeff Farnham and Castro to put the RiverDogs in control, 4-1.

Filak was unable to generate any momentum from a victory in his first start of the season, lasting only 2.1 innings while allowing four runs on four hits and five walks with one strikeout.

Rome pushed across a run without the benefit of a hit to cut the Charleston advantage to 4-2 in the top of the third. Matt Lipka worked a leadoff walk, stole second, advanced to third on an Elmer Reyes groundout, and trotted home to score on an RBI groundout by catcher Christian Bethancourt.

Rome inched within a run at 4-3 when Ramon Flores cracked a solo home run to left off Charleston reliever Mike Gipson in the top of the seventh.

Charleston played long ball themselves in the bottom of the frame, as Castro smoked a towering, no-doubt-about-it two-run shot over the Palmetto trees beyond the left-centerfield fence for a 6-3 cushion. It was the second home run of the season for Castro, who went deep only twice in 123 games with the RiverDogs in 2010.

The Braves constructed a threat in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs on a single and a pair of walks to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of designated hitter Jakob Dalfonso. Dalfonso was no match for RiverDogs reliever Tommy Kahnle, who blew him away with a 1-2 changeup on the outer half to escape the jam. The fire-balling right hander then struck out two more in the ninth to nail down his first save of the season.

The RiverDogs and Braves play game three of this four-game set on Sunday with a scheduled 5:05 pm first pitch. Right-hander Shane Greene (1-1, 7.00 ERA) will toe the slab for Charleston and left-hander Carlos Perez (0-1, 4.00 ERA), rated the No. 11 prospect in the Braves' minor league system, is expected to go for Rome.

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 16, 2011


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