Hit parade continues
PITTSBURGH — Jose Castillo has gained some inspiration from teammate Jason Bay.
Castillo homered twice and finished with a career-high six RBI to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 12-1 Tuesday.
Castillo, who has homered in four consecutive games and has seven on the season, hit a solo drive to left-center in the second and a three-run shot to left in the third that traveled an estimated 441 feet. It was the first multihomer game of Castillo's career.
Bay had a six-game home run streak snapped Monday, and Castillo said he wants to put together a longer streak.
"I watch Jason Bay every night," Castillo said. "He's such a great player."
Castillo narrowly missed a third home run in the seventh when his high flyball to center hit off the top of the wall. He was forced to settle for an RBI double. He singled in Ryan Doumit in the eighth for his sixth RBI of the game, the most by a Pirates player this season.
"He had a huge day," teammate Freddy Sanchez said. "These last couple of weeks, he's just come out and is hitting the ball hard with authority and he's driving the ball real well."
Sanchez had a career-high four hits, and Jack Wilson went 3-for-5 and scored two runs for the Pirates. Sanchez also drove in two runs and scored twice. Pittsburgh has won four of its last five games.
"It was a great win, obviously," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "But it's also great to see it played in the manner in which it was played. We got solid pitching, great defense and we took great team at-bats in a lot of different situations.
"This was just a solid performance throughout the lineup."
Victor Santos (3-5), a former Brewer, allowed one run and three hits in six innings. He retired 10 straight over one stretch.
Brady Clark led off the sixth with a single and scored on Geoff Jenkins' base hit for the Brewers, who have lost three straight.
"The bottom line was I just kept the ball down," Santos said. "My breaking stuff was down. Everything was down."
Sean Casey, playing in only his second game since returning from the disabled list Monday, hit an RBI double to right-center to score Jack Wilson in the third and give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. Three batters later, Sanchez's single to center scored Casey. Castillo followed with his second home run to make it 6-0.
"Keep piling it on and bury a team," Wilson said. "That's what you've got to do."
Jorge De La Rosa (2-1), making his first start since October 3, 2004, went three innings, allowing six runs and seven hits. The left-hander left the game due to a blister on his left middle finger.
De La Rosa was inserted in the rotation only because of injuries to starters Ben Sheets, Tomo Ohka and Rick Helling.
