Castillo’s grand slam suggests catcher has found comfort zone

Playing time was a rare commodity when he played at Lake County.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

NILES — As Alex Castillo walked off the field following the Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ 14-8 victory on Tuesday night, a mother and her daughter held out a baseball and yelled out, “We have your grand slam ball! Can you sign it?”

As Castillo was autographing the ball, another fan asked, “Can I have your grand slam bat?”

Uh, no. Castillo probably wants to keep that one.

“I would have given it to him, but we can’t,” Castillo said with a shrug. “I can’t do nothing about that.”

Last month, Castillo struggled with something else he couldn’t control: playing time. He was the second-string catcher at Lake County and he was playing about twice a week.

“He’s a guy I had my eye on in spring training that I liked,” Scrappers manager Tim Laker said. “Last year was his first year as a catcher and he never got a chance to play every day.

“Here, he’s going to get the bulk of the playing time.”

Senior Scrapper

At 29, Castillo, a native of the Dominican Republic, is easily the oldest player on the Scrappers’ roster. (Heck, he’s the only one who was born in the 1970s.) He’s hoping the position change will give him a chance to advance through the ranks. A few more nights like Tuesday’s and he won’t have a problem.

Castillo’s big blast came in the first inning when he crushed a grand slam over the left-field fence. He also doubled in the fifth and hit singles in the third and seventh innings, reaching base all five times, driving in six runs and scoring twice.

“I wanted to stay in the middle of the ball and not try to do too much,” Castillo said. “I’m glad I did that.”

Mahoning Valley (5-3) had been struggling offensively entering Tuesday’s game. The Scrappers had dropped two straight and were last in the New York-Penn League in batting with a .210 average.

Hitting pep talk

The Indians sent a few of their hitting gurus to Eastwood Field Tuesday. They gave a speech 20 minutes before the game.

“It must have paid off,” said Laker, whose team compiled 19 hits and scored all 14 runs in the first five innings. “It’s a nice win and it’s nice to see the guys swinging the bats well.”

Jansy Infante added three hits and scored twice, while Nick Petrucci (who had been in a mini-slump after hitting well during extended spring training) went 3-for-5 and scored twice.

Juan Valdes added two hits, including a homer, and drove in four runs.

The first seven batters in the lineup each had at least two hits and all but one (No. 9 hitter Mark Thompson) had at least one.

Garrett Rieck (1-0) pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings, striking out five and giving up three hits to get the win. Bret Carlin picked up his first save with a scoreless ninth.

Shane Benson started and gave up eight runs (four earned) for Auburn (4-4). John Tritz (0-1) relieved him, giving up four runs in 1 1/3 innings to get the loss.

“It was a long one,” Laker said. “The first four innings took two hours. But it was a good game for us. You don’t want to lose those ones.”

scalzo@vindy.com

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AUBURNSCRAPPERS

abrhbiabrhbi

Mstrnni 2b5320White cf6121

Stone 2b0000Infante 2b6230

Santana cf5222Mills 1b4121

Frost lf5100Martin dh4320

Franko 1b4133Valdes rf5324

Scobee rf3120Petrucci 3b5231

Zeskind ph1000Castillo c5246

Arencibia dh5010Jenkins lf5011

Soto 3b3011Thompson ss4000

Swppnhsr ph1000

Haupt c3000

Ebarb ph1000

Sanchez ss2010

Vasquez ss2000

Totals398126Totals44141914

Auburn210500000—8

Scrappers51242000x—14

E—Sanchez (2), Haupt (1), Miller (1), Petrucci (3). DP—Scrappers 1. LOB—Auburn 8, Scrappers 9. 2B—Scobee (1), Franko (3), Infante (3), Mills (2), Castillo (2). 3B—Petrucci (1). HR—Santana (1), Franko (1), Castillo (1), Valdes (1). SB—Mastroianni (2), Castillo (1).

IPHRERBBSO

Auburn

Benson2 2-398413

Tritz L, 0-21 1-344410

Rogers252202

Crowell210003

Scrappers

Miller253203

Rodriguez1 1-345421

Rieck W, 1-02 2-330005

Carlin S, 1300012

WP—Miller 3. HBP—by Tritz (Thompson). Umpires—Home, Ben Karis; Bases, Tyler Wilson. T—3:10. A—3,569.

HOW THEY SCORED

Doubledays 1st — Mastroianni singles to short. Santana singles to right, Mastroianni to 3rd and Santana to 2nd on throw. With Frost batting, Mastroianni scores on wild pitch, Santana to 3rd. Frost strikes out swinging. Franco singles to right, Santana scores. With Scobee batting, Franco moves to 2nd on wild pitch. Scobee singles to left, Franco to 3rd. Arencibia strikes out swinging. Soto strikes out swinging. 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Scrappers 1st — White infield single. Infante bunt single, White to 2nd. Mills flies to right, White to 3rd, Infante to 2nd. Martin walks. Valdes reaches on error (E-6), White scores, Infante to 3rd, Martin to 2nd. Petrucci strikes out swinging. Castillo homers to left, Infante, Martin, Valdes score. Jenkins flies out (F-8). 5 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 0 LOB.

Doubledays 2nd — Haupt lines out (F-5). Sanchez singles to center. Mastroianni grounds into fielder’s choice (6-4). With Santana batting, Mastroianni moves to 2nd on wild pitch. Santana reaches on throwing error (E-1), Mastroianni scores, Santana to 2nd. Frost grounds out (4-3). 1 run, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 2nd — Thompson grounds out (6-3). White grounds out (4-3). Infante doubles to right. Mills doubles to center, Infante scores. Martin strikes out swinging (2-3). 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 3rd — Valdes bunt single. With Petrucci batting, Valdes to 2nd on throwing error (E-2). Petrucci singles to center, Valdes to 3rd. Castillo singles to left, Valdes scores, Petrucci to 2nd. Jenkins infield single, Petrucci scores, Castillo to 2nd. Thompson strikes out swinging. White flies out (F-7). Infante flies out (F-8). 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Doubledays 4th — Sanchez fouls out (FF-3). Mastroianni singles to center. With Santana batting, Mastroianni steals 2nd. Santana homers to left, Mastroianni scores. Frost reaches on throwing error (E-5). Franco homers to left, Frost scores. Scobee doubles to left. Arencibia singles to left, Scobee to 3rd. Soto singles to left, Scobee scores, Arencibia to 2nd. Haupt out on infield fly rule, Soto caught off 1st (4-3). 5 runs, 6 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.

Scrappers 4th — Mills walks. Martin singles to left. Valdes homers to right. Petrucci singles to center. Castillo grounds into fielder’s choice (6-4). With Jenkins batting, Castillo steals 2nd. Jenkins grounds out (G-4), Castillo to 3rd. Thompson hit by pitch. White infield single, Castillo scores, Thompson to 2nd. 4 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Scrappers 5th — Mills grounded out (G-3). Martin singles to center. Valdes strikes out swinging. Petrucci triples to right center, Martin scores. Castillo doubles to left center. Jenkins strikes out swinging. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.