Castillo Dominates, Bats Flourish in Marauders 8-5 Win Over Lakeland
Lakeland, Fla. – Carlos Castillo tossed six-shutout innings to lead the Bradenton Marauders in their 8-5 victory over the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Thursday night at Publix Field.
Throughout the evening, Castillo matched a career-high with seven strikeouts. The performance marked the second time he’s completed six frames this season and in his career.
Bradenton rallied early when Estuar Suero walked, and Jhonny Severino singled to place runners at first and second. With one out, Jeral Toledo rolled an RBI single to center to give the Marauders a 1-0 lead.
With runners at the corners, Joel Mendez sent a sacrifice fly to deep left that scored Severino and doubled the lead to 2-0.
In the top of the third, Edward Florentino grounded a single to left, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With one away, Tony Blanco Jr. lifted a towering fly ball to center that Lakeland outfielder David Smith lost in the twilight sky. The ball dropped for an RBI single to extend the Marauders advantage to 3-0.
The next hitter was Suero who grounded a single to right. As the ball was thrown back to the infield, Lakeland shortstop Abel Bastidas tossed the ball out of play, assuming that time was called. However, because the play was still live, both runners were awarded two extra bases allowing Blanco Jr. to score and Suero to move to third, pushing their lead to 4-0.
Severino was later hit by a pitch to place runners at the corners. With Toledo at the plate, Severino took off on the next pitch for second, drawing a throw down. In the process, Suero took off for the plate and scored, executing a double steal to bring the Marauders lead to 5-0.
After the play, Toledo sent a grounder up the middle that was knocked down by the diving second basemen Samuel Gil. On the same play, Severino never stopped running and scored from second to increase Bradenton’s advantage to 6-0.
The Marauders tallied another run in the top of the fifth when Blanco Jr. demolished a solo homer to the berm in left center that made it 7-0. It left his bat at 108 miles per hour and earned him his third long ball of the campaign.
Bradenton added on one more run when Luke Scherrer worked a bases-loaded walk.
While the Flying Tigers chipped away in the later innings, Jose Garces recorded the game’s final two outs to cap scoring at 8-5. In the process, he earned his third save of the season.
With the win, Bradenton moved to 48-57 and 18-21 in the second half. Lakeland fell to 64-38 and 26-12 in the second half. The two return to Publix Field on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.