Huntsville routs Carolina

Published in Sports on August 18, 2006 2:14 PM

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Yovani Gallardo retired the first 16 hitters and drove in two runs to lead Huntsville past Carolina 11-2 at Joe Davis Stadium on Thursday night.

Gallardo (4-2), a 20-year-old making his 10th Double-A start, struck out nine over six innings in defeating the Mudcats (22-31) for the second time this half.

Paul Mildren (10-8), making his third attempt at his 11th victory, retired the first six before watching the second-place Stars (29-23) put up five runs in the third to break a scoreless tie. Gallardo aided his cause with a two-run single, followed by a three-run homer by Ryan Braun. Mildren worked four-plus innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits in his shortest start of the season.

The Stars added four more runs in the fifth inning before Carolina broke through against Gallardo in the sixth. With one out, Brian Cleveland hit a soft liner between third and short for the Mudcats' first hit. Jose Campusano reached on an infield single with two outs, then the Mudcats scored twice on a single by Rex Rundgren. Cleveland scored on the hit, with Campusano coming home on a throwing error by catcher J.C. Boscan, who was attempting to throw Rundgren out advancing to second.

The Stars remained 2 1/2 games behind first place Tennessee, while the Mudcats sank 10 games back with 17 to play. Huntsville has won the first three games of this five-game series.

Luther Hackman, who pitched for Carolina in 1999 and later for the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres, pitched two scoreless innings for Huntsville, fanning two. Hackman was signed last week by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Atlantic League's Bridgeport Bluefish.

Jose Garcia (5-5, 2.90) starts tonight against Huntsville's Tim Dillard (8-7, 3.30) at 8:05 p.m.