Reds bullpen implodes after brilliant Luis Castillo start, Tigers win 6-4

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

We’re all well aware of how filthy Cincinnati Reds righty Luis Castillo can be when he’s on his game, and we know he’s on his game more often than not.

On Saturday, he was on it in a big, big way.

The Detroit Tigers manged to dink a few soft hits here and there, but aside from that, Castillo pretty well blew right through them. He fired 6 innings of 6 H, ER, BB, 11 K ball, including a trio of Ks in his final inning of work. He even managed to fan Miguel Cabrera in all three of their tussles, in case you needed an indication of just how much filth was being tossed.

Unfortunately, the bullpen.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Joey Votto, who socked his second dinger of the season, walked, and singled; Amir Garrett, who spun a scoreless 8th inning (with 2 Ks); Freddy Galvis, who bashed a big 2-run homer and walked; and Curt Casali, whose 7th inning dinger immediately reinflated the mood after the Reds had borked away the lead.

Key Plays

• Castillo got a bit unlucky in the Top of the 1st, as he allowed an infield single to Jonathan Schoop on a dribbler just past the mound. That burned two batters later, as CJ Cron dumped a double into the LF corner to drive in the game’s first run. Reds trailed, 1-0.
• Votto, though, wasted little time getting that run back, as he blasted an Ivan Nova meatball into the RF seats for a solo shot in the Bottom of the 1st, and the game was tied, 1-1.
• The lead found the Reds in the Bottom of the 2nd, as Nick Senzel coaxed a 1-out walk and scored on Galvis’ 2-run blast over the RF wall.
• After Castillo continued breezing through the Tigers lineup, Robert Stephenson took over for the Top of the 7th. That immediately hurt, as he hung a meatball to Austin Romine that was pounded for a solo blast into the LF seats. Jacoby Jones later blooped a single into CF, and David Bell opted to pull Bob Steve after he’d faced his minimum trio of batters. Michael Lorenzen was summoned, and after getting an out on a grounder, he hung a changeup up and in to Miguel Cabrera, and the future Hall of Famer spanked it just inside the LF fair pole for a lead-taking 2-run bomb. Reds trailed, 4-3.
• As deflating as that moment was, keep in mind that dingers are a-plenty in this modern game of baseball, and seemingly every swing has one in mind. Casali put the spotlight on that in the Bottom of the 7th, as he swatted a 2-out solo blast out to right-center that knotted the score at 4-4.
• Raisel Iglesias entered the game in the Top of the 9th in a tie game, and that’s a scenario that continues to just completely blow up. It did again, as he served up a leadoff single before Jacoby Jones bonked a go-ahead 2-run dinger that doomed the Reds. Bloody hell. Reds lose, 6-4.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Prior to the game, the Reds announced a few roster transactions, notably that Matt Davidson has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been placed on the 10-day IL. Tucker Barnhart is on paternity leave, too, and both RHP Tejay Antone and OF Aristides Aquino have been recalled.
• Just a day after Sonny Gray notched the 1,000th strikeout of his career, Castillo reached 500 for his career today. It marks the fastest any pitcher in Reds history has reached that round number.
• Sunday’s series finale with the Tigers will be a matinee, with a 1:10 PM ET start time. Trevor Bauer will go for Cincinnati, with Spencer Turnbull on the bump for Detroit.
• Tunes.