Max Castillo dazzled in Triple-A debut, Bisons shut out Syracuse 2-0

Max Castillo lived up to the billing in his Triple-A debut, leading the Buffalo Bisons on the mound to a 2-0 victory over the Syracuse Mets on Friday night at Sahlen Field.

The 22-year-old was promoted from the New Hampshire Fisher Cats earlier in the week and scattered just two hits and walked a pair over seven innings. He also struck out eight and tied his career-high with seven innings pitched.

Castillo retired the final seven batters he faced, including his final strikeout of the game. The righty needed just 84 pitches for his first career start with the Herd, with 58 strikes thrown.

Buffalo’s first run of the night came thanks to an Eric Stamets solo home run in the bottom of the third inning off of Felix Pena. Stamets’ second homer of the season was launched over the left field wall to give the Bisons a 1-0 lead.

The team doubled the advantage to 2-0 with a Jordan Groshans RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Triple-A rookie had a pair of hits to go along with his 13th RBI of the season.

The Herd bullpen did not allow a hit over the final two innings to Syracuse. Joe Biagini recorded one strikeout in a 1-2-3 eighth inning, while Matt Gage recorded his fifth save in as many tries this season by getting the final three outs of the game in the ninth.

The game was played in 1:53, one of the shortest games in Buffalo’s modern era. The record for the shortest nine-inning game is 1:45 against the Louisville Red Birds on August 5, 1993.

Buffalo was able to secure at least a series split by winning their third game in the series and will go for their fourth in five tries against the Mets at Saturday at 1:05 p.m. Thomas Hatch is scheduled start for the Bisons.