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It took until the 4th inning for a Cincinnati Reds player to take the field in Tuesday’s MLB All Star Game, but when Luis Castillo finally stepped on the mound, he certainly made his presence felt.
The Reds ace fanned Cleveland’s Carlos Santana and Boston’s J.D. Martinez to start the inning, dosing them with a steady diet of 98 mph fastballs and his patented fall-off-the-table change-up, and worked his way around a 3-0 start to his tussle with Houston star Alex Bregman to eventually induce an easy 4-3 putout to wrap his perfect inning.
In the process, Castillo earned some high praise. as National League manager Dave Roberts dropped a Pedro Martinez comp mid-interview while Luis was on the mound, and that came on the heels of some high praise from Bregman long before Castillo ever faced him this evening - likely from the Reds/Astros matchup from the end of June. The Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale elaborated:
Luis Castillo says the All-Star Game selection raised expectations on himself. Alex Bregman on Castillo: “Oh man, he’s probably top 2 or top 3 pitchers in the game right now." https://t.co/PMFAcOVNiM #Reds
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) July 8, 2019
Thanks for that, Marlins!