Jesus Castillo picked up his first win of the season Friday, pitching seven scoreless innings in the Chattanooga Lookouts’ 6-1 defeat of the Montgomery Biscuits in front of a sellout crowd of 6,438 at AT&T Field.
After squandering several scoring chances early, the Lookouts (7-8) scored three runs in the fifth inning and added one in the seventh. That proved to be more than enough as they earned their fourth win in the five-game series.
Andrew Hatch added a two-run home run over the fence in right field in the eighth inning to seal the win.
“To take four was big because we lost four last series (at Tennessee),” said Hatch, who was 2-for-4 with a double and the homer. “It was good to come back, come home, get in front of our crowd and even up the damage we did to ourselves last week.”
Castillo (1-1) held the Biscuits (7-8) to three hits, struck out two and walked one. The right-hander never allowed a runner past second base thanks to some help from his infielders, who made several good grabs on ground balls.
“It was a great outing by Castillo. He was able to locate his fastball on both side of the plate,” Lookouts manager Carlos Subero said.
Second baseman Jaime Pedroza went 4-for-4 with an RBI for Chattanooga, and catcher Mike Rivera walked three times and scored twice. Left fielder Andrew Lambo went 0-for-3 to snap his 10-game hitting streak.
The Lookouts had runners in scoring position in the first and third innings but came up empty. In the fifth, they finally got to Montgomery starter Jeremy Hall (0-1).
Rivera walked and Hatch belted a double to deep left-center to put runners at third and second with nobody out. A Dee Gordon grounder to third was mishandled by Greg Sexton, allowing Rivera to score for a 1-0 lead. A sacrifice by Pedroza moved the runners into scoring position with one away.
Trayvon Robinson battled his way to a walk to load the bases for Lambo, who fouled out to the catcher. Smith picked him up, though, and put the Lookouts in front 3-0 with a two-run bloop single to shallow center.
Gordon led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple and scored on a single by Pedroza to make it 4-0.
Hatch’s second homer of the season gave the Lookouts the cushion they needed. The Biscuits scored a run in the ninth off Eric Krebs but couldn’t mount a rally.
Chris Withrow (1-1, 6.14 ERA) is the Lookouts’ scheduled starting pitcher for tonight’s game at 7 EDT at Huntsville, with Amaury Rivas (2-0, 1.13) scheduled to go for the Stars.