Castillo sparkles, but 'pen squanders gem

CINCINNATI -- During baseball’s shutdown, Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo’s changeup gathered no dust, his slider collected no rust. And he featured a two-seam fastball that topped out at 99 mph, which further challenged Tigers hitters on Saturday.

Castillo sparkled with 11 strikeouts over six innings, including Miguel Cabrera three times. But Cabrera got revenge by hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer to left field off Michael Lorenzen with two outs in the top of the seventh, as Castillo was stuck with a no-decision. Overall, the bullpen surrendered five runs on three homers in a 6-4 Reds defeat at Great American Ball Park.

• Box score

Those pesky non-save situations haunted closer Raisel Iglesias once again in his 2020 debut. The Reds’ closer gave up JaCoby Jones' tiebreaking two-run homer in the top of the ninth.

"You always have to rebound from those negatives and really turn them into positives all the time," Castillo said via translator Jorge Merlos. "I really think this team is going to win a lot more. We’ll go on to the next one.”

While the bullpen's meltdown was frustrating for Cincinnati, the club was thrilled with how well Castillo performed.

Here is a breakdown of a great outing:

• Castillo threw 91 pitches, with 64 strikes. His 24 swinging strikes were tied for fourth-most in any of his outings and two shy of his all-time high.
• According to Statcast, half of Detroit’s swings and misses (12) came via Castillo's changeup.
• Castillo's two-seam fastball averaged 97.6 mph and peaked at 99 mph. His four-seamer topped at 98.7 mph and garnered seven whiffs.

"He really impressed me," said Reds catcher Curt Casali, who hit a game-tying solo homer in the bottom of the seventh. "He hopped right back on the wagon. He did what an All-Star does. He controlled the zone, he threw a lot of strikes, he had his changeup going. I thought his slider was the best I've seen it in quite some time. I think the fact that he was able to throw his changeup on the opposite end of the plate away from righties was a huge weapon for him today."

In the first inning vs. Cabrera, Castillo worked an 0-2 count with the 99 mph fastball. Following ball one on a 98 mph heater, he turned to an 87 mph changeup that Cabrera could not touch.

In the top of the third, Cabrera went down on three swings -- the last two coming on changeups.

Back in the box in the fifth inning, Cabrera was fanned in four pitches. An 89 mph slider finished the job.

Only six pitchers have previously struck out Cabrera swinging three times in one game since pitch tracking began in 2008. They include Chris Sale, Max Scherzer and Charlie Morton.

“You know, I think he’s one of the best players ever in the league," said Castillo, who allowed one first-inning run, six hits and one walk. "Obviously, it felt really good punching him out. I wasn’t ever planning on doing it. But I felt really good."

After Castillo exited following the sixth inning, Robert Stephenson surrendered a leadoff homer to Austin Romine to begin the seventh. With two outs in the frame, one on and first base open, Michael Lorenzen challenged Cabrera with a fastball up in the strike zone. It didn’t elevate quite enough, as Cabrera crushed it inside the left-field foul pole for his 478th career homer.

Upon returning to the dugout at the inning's end, Lorenzen kicked the bat rack a couple of times in frustration.

"You really don’t want to put baserunners on right there," said Reds manager David Bell. "We trust Michael to attack right there. Didn’t work out, but it’s how we would do it again.”

Iglesias was summoned for the top of the ninth inning and opened with a Romine single to right field. On a 2-2 fastball, Jones then lifted the game-winning homer to center field.

In 2019, Iglesias set a franchise record in losses for relievers with 12. In 43 games with save situations, he had a 3.59 ERA. In 25 non-save situations, he had a 5.18 ERA -- and eight losses.

"We don't like losing, especially when we had a lead," Casali said. "Just to squander a great Castillo start stings a little bit."