Rawhide Win Home Finale Day After Castillo Joins 20-20 Club

VISALIA, CA-Sunday was a bittersweet day for the Rawhide and their fans. Visalia had been a hot team ever since the addition of the 2021 draft picks in early August and the always loyal Rawhide fans were treated to some fun and interesting series to finish off the season.

On the second-to-last home game of the year, Rawhide slugger Neyfy Castillo belted his 20th homerun on the season and, along with his current total of 24 stolen bases, put him in an exclusive club that only two other Rawhide members had been a part of; the 20-20 club. Neyfy was presented the award Sunday for becoming a part of the club by Rawhide broadcaster Jill Gearin in the 5th inning as fans of the team cheered.

Castillo was able to score a run and swipe his 24th bag on the year, 2nd most on the team and 10th most in the entire league. The usually potent lineup was only able to knock in seven hits for four runs, but those four runs were enough as their opponents from Lake Elsinore were only able to score two thanks to some dominant pitching.

Big contributors to Sunday’s lineup were Tim Tawa, with three hits and an RBI, Wilderd Patino with two hits and an RBI and Ryan Bliss who smashed the game’s only homerun for his only hit on the day. SP Chen was also able to get a hit and make it to home plate for a run.

Along with Neyfy Castillo, the biggest lock for a soon-to-be promotion should be Scott Randall. Making his first start following three other appearances from the bullpen, Randall went four innings while tossing five strikeouts and giving up no runs off of two hits. He has a mind-boggling 0.69 ERA over four appearances, an extreme rarity for a pitching staff that has been the league’s worst all year.

Relieving Randall were Adrian Del Moral, making his second bullpen appearance after 13 games as a starter, and the hard throwing David Sanchez. Del Moral was finally able to pick up his first win on the year (a 1-10 record) and did so tossing three strikeouts in three innings and only giving up four hits and one earned run. Sanchez closed out the game, picking up his first career save after taking the mound for the final two innings and throwing one strikeout while giving up one hit and one earned run.

The Rawhide head down to Rancho Cucamonga to take on the Quakes for a six game set starting Tuesday, September 14th at 6:30 PM pacific time.