Castro, Mendoza homer to jumpstart 5-1 Hillcats win

Willi Castro and Yonathan Mendoza each hit solo home runs in the fifth inning after neither team scored in the first four frames to ignite the Hillcats offense and send Lynchburg on its way to a 5-1 victory at Nymeo Field Friday night.

After both pitchers began the contest with four scoreless frames, Willi Castro crushed a ball from Reid Love over the left-field fence to begin the fifth. It markedCastro’s fifth home run of the year and his fourth when batting right-handed. Of Castro’s five homers, one has tied the game, and the other four have given the Hillcats the lead.

After Castro staked Lynchburg to a 1-0 advantage, Mendoza followed with a home run two batters later to double the lead. It marked Mendoza’s first home run in 248 at-bats as a Hillcat, spanning parts of three seasons. It was his first home run since hitting a solo homer in the third inning of a game for Lake County on July 1, 2016.

Lynchburg added to its margin in the sixth. Sam Haggerty smacked a leadoff double and stole third base. Sicnarf Loopstok’s single plated Haggerty for his team-leading 35th RBI. After Frederick scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, the Hillcats stretched the difference to 5-1 with two unearned runs in the ninth. Martin Cervenka and Daniel Salters scored in the stanza, and Mendoza and Anthony Miller notched the RBIs. Miller’s RBI came on a two-out, opposite-field double.

Shane Bieber (2-1) earned his second win in as many starts against the Keys, going six innings and holding Frederick to one run on five hits. He struck out five and walked one. Kieran Lovegrove earned a hold by retiring all five batters he faced, including two via strikeout. Argenis Angulo converted his ninth straight save opportunity to give him 10 total for the year. Angulo went 1 1/3 innings after entering with the score still 3-1 and struck out a pair during that time.

The Hillcats are now one game back in the Northern Division first-half standings with two games remaining before the All-Star Break. Lynchburg sends Aaron Civale (2-1, 1.96) to the mound for Saturday’s game at Frederick, which will begin at 6 p.m. The game can be heard live at www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with pre-game coverage at 5:50 p.m.