Ivan Castillo tripled twice and had an RBI to power Lynchburg past the Winston-Salem Dash, 6-4 on Tuesday night at BB&T Ballpark. The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Hillcats.
DEJA VU
On Monday night, the Hillcats surrendered five runs in the bottom of the first inning and it appeared as if history was going to repeat itself early on Tuesday. Michael Peoples was on the bump for Lynchburg and allowed six of the first seven batters he faced to reach base as the Dash jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Adam Engel doubled to lead off the game and stole third base to threaten with no outs in the inning. Keon Barnum drove Engel home to give the Dash a 1-0 lead. Nick Basto doubled in the next at-bat to score Trey Michalczewski to complete the two-run frame.
TEAMS TRADE RUNS IN THIRD
Ivan Castillo led off the top of the third with a triple and was driven home by Luigi Rodriguez to cut the lead in half, 2-1. However, in the bottom of the inning, Barnum led off with a line drive to right field that hit off the top of the wall and was ruled a home run to give Winston-Salem a 3-1 lead.
POWER SURGE
Lynchburg responded in the fourth when Castillo singled to drive in Claudio Bautista to bring the Hillcats back within one, 3-2.
The real damage came in the top of the seventh as the Hillcats posted a four-run frame to take the lead away from the Dash.Ivan Castillo tripled to lead off the inning for the second time in the game and was immediately driven home on a RBI double byLuigi Rodriguez to tie the game at 3-all. Two batters later, Clint Frazier doubled to drive home Rodriguez, giving the Hillcats their first lead of the game, 4-3.
Two at-bats later, Mike Papi beat out a ground ball to second base for an infield single and Frazier caught the Dash defense off guard, rounding third to score from second base to extend the lead to two.
Eric Haase finished off the frame with a RBI single that scored Papi from second to give the Hillcats a three-run advantage.
HOLDING OFF A CHARGE
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, Sean O’Connell grounded into a double play to second base that allowed one run to score, but Adam Engel grounded out to first to end the inning as the Hillcats maintained a two-run lead, 6-4.Grant Sides remained in the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and forced three straight groundouts to record his first save in a Hillcats uniform and the 21st of his career.
KEEPING UP WITH THE ‘CATS
Clint Frazier recorded his fifth multi-hit game in his last six contests…With a 2-for-4 night at the plate, Frazier extended his consecutive on-base streak to 28 games and his hit streak to 10 games, both his longest of the year…Michael Peoples was unable to record a win or his sixth quality start, but the Hillcats did earn the win marking the seventh for the team in Peoples’ last 10 starts…Paul Hendrix tied a season-high with three hits in the game…The performance marks his third three-hit game of the season.
UP NEXT
Lynchburg will return home for a three-game series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. It will be Win-Win Wednesday at City Stadium and gates will open at 5:30 p.m. Fans can tune in to the action on ESPN Virginia 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com beginning at 6:10 p.m. for the Hillcats On-Deck Show.
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Chris Graham
