Castellanos' wrist 'sore,' day to day after HBP

CINCINNATI -- Returning from four days away to resume their long stretch of games vs. the Brewers, the Reds didn't get to pick up where they left off before the All-Star break. First, they lost their best hitter during Friday’s game after right fielder Nick Castellanos was hit by a pitch.

Then everything really went downhill after that during Cincinnati's 11-6 loss to Milwaukee at Great American Ball Park. The second-place Reds (48-43), which took three of four at American Family Field last weekend, dropped to five games behind the first-place Brewers in the National League Central standings.

“It would have been big to get the first win here after that huge series win," said Reds starting pitcher Tyler Mahle, who gave up five earned runs over 5 1/3 innings for a no-decision. "I didn’t put pressure on myself to keep that going. I just tried to go out, have a good start and get the second half off to a good start. It didn’t happen for me. We look to tomorrow to even the series up.”

Castellanos, who led off the bottom of the third inning, was hit on the right wrist by a 94 mph sinker from Milwaukee starter Adrian Houser. He remained in the game and scored on Eugenio Suárez’s two-run double that gave Cincinnati a 4-1 lead.

But when the Reds took the field for the top of the fourth inning, Castellanos was out of the game with Aristides Aquino replacing him in right field.

"It swelled up on him pretty quickly," Reds manager David Bell said. "He came to the dugout and it would have been tough for him to swing or take another at-bat. I don’t think he would have been able to do it. So it made sense to get him out of the game right then and get it X-rayed."

Those X-rays on Castellanos' wrist were negative but he is considered day-to-day for returning to the lineup.

"He’s pretty sore," Bell said. "It got him in a spot that it easily could have been broken. We got that news during the game, which was great. It’s just a matter of time, whether it’s tomorrow or a matter of a couple of days."

The Brewers argued that Castellanos swung, but Castellanos motioned towards their dugout that he was hit by the pitch first. Houser denied any intent and the Reds did not believe he tried to hit Castellanos.

"I definitely wasn't trying to go there," Houser said. "Just had a sinker get away from me. It doesn't feel good getting hit. It doesn't matter if it's 100 [mph] or if it's 75, you're still getting hit by a round piece of leather that's pretty hard and pretty dense, so it definitely doesn't doesn't feel good to get hit."

A first-time All-Star in 2021, Castellanos left the game tied for the National League lead with a .330 average and with a NL-best 29 doubles while fourth with a .968 OPS. He also has 18 home runs and 59 RBIs.

In an encouraging sign in the later innings following his tests, Castellanos returned to the Reds dugout to watch the rest of the game with his teammates.

"You never want to see anybody on the lineup go down with any kind of injury. Knowing that he’s going to be just fine is a good word," said Reds center fielder Tyler Naquin, who was 2-for-4 with a first-inning two-run double that gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead.

By the time Castellanos was back on the bench, it was a much different game for the Reds.

Mahle was unable to hold the three-run lead. In the top of the fifth inning with two outs, his first pitch to Willy Adames went right to the first row of the right field seats for a two-run homer.

Mahle gave up a one-out walk, followed by Luis Urías' double, and was taken out. Against Reds reliever Amir Garrett, Jackie Bradley Jr. reached on an infield single behind second base, where Jonathan India lost control of the ball for an error that scored Urías with the tying run. Kolten Wong put the Reds down by a run with his two-out RBI single that scored Bradley.

For a bullpen that ended the first half strong, Friday went down as a setback. Urías clubbed a one-out homer to left field vs. Josh Osich in the eighth inning and Milwaukee kept the pressure on by loading the bases. Next, Adames hit a two-run double against Ryan Hendrix and the game got away from the Reds when the rookie reliever threw back-to-back wild pitches to cap a five-run inning.

Besides feeling better about Castellanos' prognosis, the Reds also know they dropped the first game of the previous series at Milwaukee before winning the next three. There are two games remaining in the series.

"We had momentum. We were feeling good and then things kind of got away," Naquin said. "It’s part of it, man. We have each other’s backs. We’re going to come out here tomorrow and play hard."