Castillo, Gilliam Go Yard as Tampa Blanks Bradenton, 2-0

BRADENTON, Fla. - Diego Castillo and Isiah Gilliam each blasted a leadoff home run as five Tampa pitchers combined to shut out the Bradenton Marauders in a 2-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at LECOM Park.
It was the sixth shutout win of the season for the Tarpons, earning them a split of the four-game series in Bradenton (3-4, 39-34). The Marauders left 13 men on base and finished 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
RHP Ben Heller began a Major League Rehabilitation Assignment and started for Tampa, yielding a hit and a walk while striking out one on 21 pitches (12 strikes) in two-thirds of an inning. RHP Miguel Yajure got a pop-out by Lucas Tancas to strand runners on the corners.
Tampa (3-3, 31-41) did not have a runner reach base until Castillo smashed a leadoff home run off the batter's eye to begin the third against RHP Brad Case. It was Castillo's second home run of the season, and first since 4/19 at Clearwater.
Case retired 13 of the next 14 batters he faced before Angel Aguilar and Donny Sands lined back-to-back singles with one out in the seventh. Case got Pablo Olivares to ground into a force out, and Castillo to ground out to escape the jam.
Yajure stranded a two-out single in the second, a leadoff single in the third, a two-out double in the fourth and a two-out single in the fifth, maintaining the 1-0 lead.
After striking out Dylan Busby to begin the bottom of the sixth, Yajure was relieved by RHP Greg Weissert (H, 1), who struck out the next two batters to complete the frame.
Yajure (W, 4-6) scattered four hits in four and two-third scoreless innings, tallying six strikeouts while throwing 52 of 83 pitches for strikes.
Case (L, 1-1) logged his eighth quality start of the season, yielding one earned run on four hits in seven innings. The 22-year-old struck out five and walked none on 96 pitches (62 strikes).
An error and a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs for Bradenton in the seventh, but Weissert got Cal Mitchell to fly out to end the frame. Bradenton reloaded the bags against RHP Braden Bristo with two outs in the eighth, but Bristo (H, 3) struck out Chase Lambert to escape.
LHP Braeden Ogle made his Marauders debut in the ninth and Gilliam clobbered his first pitch onto the boardwalk behind the wall in left-center, doubling Tampa's lead. It was Gilliam's ninth home run of the season.
RHP Kyle Zurak (SV, 5) worked around a leadoff double by Travis Swaggerty in the bottom of the ninth, striking out Busby to end the game - the 13^th strikeout by Tampa pitchers.
Gilliam (2-for-4, HR, RBI, R) logged his second multi-hit game of the series. Sands (1-for-3, BB) has reached base safely in five-straight games. Heller played in his first game since 2017 after missing the entire 2018 season ("Tommy John" surgery).
Following a day off on Monday, the Tarpons will travel to Jackie Robinson Ballpark for a three-game series against the Daytona Tortugas. RHP Trevor Stephan (0-0, -.--) is expected to start against RHP Mac Sceroler (3-1, 3.95) in the series-opener on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. Live play-by-play will be available on the Daytona Tortugas Baseball Network.