Pitcher Jesus Castillo gave Chattanooga another solid start Monday night at AT&T Field, but the Lookouts again failed to capitalize.
Matthew Spencer’s first-pitch single up the middle off Matt Sartor with two out in the top of the 13th inning scored Starlin Castro to catapult Tennessee to a 2-1 series-clinching victory. The Lookouts dropped to 12-13 overall and 2-3 in games started by Castillo, who has a 1.48 earned run average.
“He’s been doing a good job,” Lookouts manager Carlos Subero said. “It’s just one of those things where the opposition is also doing a good job with their pitching, and we haven’t been able to put up the runs necessary to give him a better record.”
The 13-inning game was the longest played by either team this season. Monday was the last meeting of the North Division foes in the first half.
Chattanooga took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Scott Van Slyke’s two-out single to center scored Dee Gordon, who led off with an infield hit. The Smokies (18-7) tied it in the fifth on Tony Campana’s two-out single to center.
Neither team managed a hit in the sixth through eighth innings, with Castillo working six innings and allowing a run on three hits. The 25-year-old right-hander walked four batters, matching the total of his first four starts combined, and struck out three.
“He didn’t quite have the command tonight that he usually does, but he was able to make the pitch when it counted,” Subero said.
Castillo went wire-to-wire with the Lookouts last season, going 7-9 with a 4.31 ERA in 29 games (27 starts). He had a 2.84 ERA in his last eight games (seven starts).
Tennessee nearly ended Monday’s game in the ninth by loading the bases on two singles and a walk, but David Pfeiffer struck out Blake Lalli on three pitches to end the threat. The Lookouts are off today before opening a series Wednesday night in Carolina.