Castillo Paces Shutout as Bats Clip Tribe

(photo by Adam Pintar/Indianapolis Indians)

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Ronnie Dawson homered in the first inning and Cincinnati Reds rehabber Luis Castillo paced a shutout with 4.1 scoreless innings as the Louisville Bats blanked the Indianapolis Indians 1-0 Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field.

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Dawson unloaded on an 0-1 hanging curveball from Jerad Eickhoff to clear the fence in right field and offer the lone run of the entire contest. The slugging outfielder has now hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games with a .340 average over that span.

With a run under his belt, Castillo dealt for the second straight appearance with the Bats, whiffing seven batters and allowing just three hits in the no-decision. He sat 93-94 MPH with fastball and worked in his devastating changeup to punch out three with the heater and four batters with his offspeed offerings.

Through his two starts with the Bats, Castillo has combined for 8.0 shutout innings with 12 strikeouts.

Pedro Payano took over in the fifth inning and earned the win with 1.2 scoreless frames. Jared Solomon (1.2ip) and Ross Detwiler (0.1ip) combined for the seventh and eighth before Joel Kuhnel nailed down the save by stranding the tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth.

Albert Almora also extended his hitting streak to a team season-high nine straight games with a single in the seventh inning.

Louisville and Indianapolis continue their six-game set Thursday at 11:05 a.m. at Victory Field. LHP Bernardo Flores (0-1, 7.24) gets the ball for the Bats against LHP Trey McGough (1-0, 0.00).