Castillo Shines in Win

Woodbridge, VA -  Left-handed hurler Cristian Castillo dazzled in a 3-1 Wilmington Blue Rocks (47-41/8-10) win over the Potomac Nationals (39-47/6-10) Sunday afternoon at Pfitzner Stadium. Castillo tied a season-high with eight innings of shutout baseball, allowed just three hits and struck out six to earn the win. Nick Heath delivered in the clutch, driving two of the three runs in the ballgame with two outs and paced the offense with two hits in the affair. The win ensured the Blue Rocks a winning road trip as they are 4-2 during the trip with the final game of the trek scheduled for Monday.

D.J. Burt used his legs to manufacture the first run of the ballgame in the opening inning. After he led the game off with a single, he stole second base, then advanced to third but a fielding error by Potomac's third baseman Dan Gamache allowed the ball to roll into the outfield, letting Burt score to make it 1-0 Blue Rocks. 
Both pitchers settled in as Castillo and Potomac's starter Austen Williams exchanged scoreless frames for the next four innings. In the sixth inning, with two outs, Heath laced an RBI double to score Colton Frabasilio who drew a walk to double up Wilmington's lead 2-0. In the top of the eighth, it was Heath again, this time smacking a run-scoring single to score Jonathan Sánchez making it a 3-0 contest. Potomac would strike for a run in their last at-bats against Jacob Bodner when Ian Sagdal grounded out to bring in the lone run for the P-Nats. Bodner closed out the ninth to earn the save.
Wilmington wraps up their week long road trip with the series finale against Potomac on Monday, July 10 at 12:05 p.m. RHP A.J. Puckett (7-7, 4.11 ERA) gets the start for the Blue Rocks while LHP Taylor Gilbeau (2-1, 3.88 ERA) starts for the Nationals. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Cristian Castillo has turned in a banner first year in Class-A Advanced. A Carolina League All-Star, the southpaw continues to be one of the most consistent starting pitchers for the Rocks this season. After his sterling performance on Sunday, Castillo has now allowed just 15 earned runs in his last 11 starts, yielding a solid 2.11 ERA during that span. Castillo has completed eight innings in two of his last five starts, with the first start coming back on June 15 against Salem when he also tossed eighth shutout innings.
D.J. Burt picked up another hit and continues to be a catalyst for the Blue Rocks atop the lineup. He stole his 26^th base in the win on Sunday which paces the team and is second in the Carolina League. On Saturday, he laced his 16^th double of the season and he now is tied for the team lead in that department with Roman Collins and Chase Vallot. Overall, Burt has 20 extra-base hits this season. In addition to the 16 doubles. Burt is also tied for first on the team with four triples, along with Wander Franco and Collins.
Nick Heath turned in one of his best games in as a Blue Rock in his young Wilmington career. The newest addition to the roster, Heath picked up his first multi-hit game of the year with the Blue Rocks and second multi-RBI game. He delivered with a two-out RBI double in the sixth inning to help give the Blue Crew some breathing room before adding his second RBI in Sunday's game in the eighth inning to provide a key insurance run. 
The Rocks have ensured a winning road trip after their victory on Sunday. Wilmington started on the road in Lynchburg and took two of three to earn their first series win of the second half against the First Half Northern Division champions. In addition, with the victory on Sunday, Wilmington is poised to take the four-game series against Potomac with a win on Monday, earning their first four-game series win since their four-game sweeping of Salem right before the All-Star break.
They Said It, Jamie Quirk
"Castillo never gives in. He has the ability to use his changeup, breaking ball and fastball. He has a great mix of pitches and he pitches backwards, as they say in baseball. People ask me can he pitch? I say if you put him in a big league game today, he would pitch the same exact way. He won't get hyped up, he won't try to do more. He does what he does, and he does it very well.
I don't worry about it when Castillo has base runners on. Potomac had some traffic on the bases today, but he finds a way to get out of it and make pitches. He's very fun to watch, sit back and let him do his thing. He never gets shelled or blows up. You just sit back and watch, if it gets a little hairy, he makes his pitches and gets out of it.
It's great to see (Chase Vallot) locked in defensively at the plate. I think he has caught six or seven shutouts this season. He has done great. He works with the pitchers well and his whole game has improved tremendously from April to now. His blocking, his throwing and that's what you want to see. You want to see players get better and that's what he's doing.
(Nick) Heath had a good couple of at-bats. This game can mess you up mentally and he was starting to get down. He was just swinging at a lot of bad pitches, overanxious wanting to do well at this level. He might have been wondering does he belong here at this level. (Sunday) was big for him and big for us. He's been coming up in situations and has been struggling. A lot of strikeouts a lot of balls in the dirt he can't lay off. (Monday) he got the two big hits and two RBIs to help us get the win.
It's big (scoring first run in the ballgame). I love playing on the road because we get to hit first and get right after it.   We can kind of take control of the game and get the flow going. It's nice having the bottom of the ninth when you're home. I like to believe though that we don't need the bottom of the ninth, just get out in front early and we have been very good at that this road trip."
Crisitan Castillo, Pitcher
"I felt really good warming up in the bullpen. Then when I came to the mound, I felt really good and I had all my pitches working. The defense really helped me a lot and the offense did its job to help out. I tried to work outside, but the last two or three innings of my start, I started to attack the inside part of the plate.
I really like to have different ways to attack batters when I face them a second or third time. I know during after their first at-bats, they will go back to their plan of attack and that's why I like to change it on my end.   It really helps me out, because usually they will be waiting for certain pitches and I change my approach on the mound.
Chase (Vallot) and I talk a lot before the game to develop a plan so we can execute out on the field. I don't need to shake him off a lot, but sometimes it's part of my game and our plan. I like to work quickly as well. It helps a lot because you don't give hitters time to think about what pitch I am going to throw. That's why I don't like to wait pitch by pitch, I want to catch and throw.
Every win is good for us. The goal is to make the playoffs and that's what we are working towards is trying to make the postseason here in the second half. "