Castellani Throws Zeroes As Goats Walk Over Dogs

Hartford, CT- Turning in arguably his best performance of the season, Hartford's Ryan Castellani hurled eight scoreless innings, pitching the Yard Goats to a 6-0 win over the Portland Sea Dogs, Monday night, before 6,802. It was the 38th sellout of the season for the Yard Goats, who have now drawn 374,739 fans this season at Dunkin' Donuts Park. It was also the season's largest Monday night crowd. Hartford is averaging 6,569 per home date in the month of August.

Castellani, who improved to 9-12, won his first game since July 21, when he also defeated the Red Sox Double-A affiliate, in a seven-inning complete game shutout in the first game of a doubleheader. His eight innings pitched tied a season-high, as did his eight strike outs. Huascar Brazoban pitched the ninth to preserve Hartford's 10th shutout of the season.
Facing ex-big league pitcher Henry Owens, the Yard Goats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, as the lefthander walked two men and hit a batter. An RBI-single by Drew Weeks and a two-run single by Dom Nuñez accounted for the scoring in the frame. 
Owens settled down after the rocky first, until the sixth inning, when he walked the bases loaded and was lifted from the game. The Yard Goats added three runs in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Metzler, a run-scoring bunt single by Juan Ciriaco and throwing error by reliever Jake Cosart.  
 Hartford managed just five hits, two of them by Nunez. Portland's pitching staff, which leads the Eastern League in walks allowed, yielded 10 walks. Four the batters, who walked, came around to score.
Game two of the series is Tuesday night at Dunkin' Donuts Park. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Righthander Craig Schlitter will pitch for Hartford against righthander Kevin McAvoy for Portland. The game will be broadcast on AM 1410 WPOP and on iHeart Radio.