Castillo uses changeup to quiet Pirates’ bats

CINCINNATI — Tuesday night was filled with all kinds of explosions for the Pirates, outbursts of offense and emotions.

Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo ensured there was no such excitement for the series finale on Wednesday, keeping the Pirates’ bats quiet with a terrific changeup and carrying Cincinnati to a 4- 1 victory at Great American Ball Park.

“That may be the secondbest changeup I’ve ever seen in a Reds uniform,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said, putting Castillo behind only Mario Soto. “That’s some kind of pitcher right now. He’s right up there in the top of the league.”

Until the seventh inning, the Pirates advanced just one runner to second base — when Kevin Newman swiped a bag after his leadoff single in the third. Elias Diaz, Dario Agrazal and Adam Frazier promptly made three consecutive outs to strand Newman.

Castillo ( 10- 4, 2.63 ERA) allowed only Bryan Reynolds’ run- scoring groundout in the eighth.

In seven- plus innings of work, Castillo allowed six hits ( five singles).

“You saw some hitters who have been swinging the bat really well take some funny swings [ Wednesday],” Hurdle said. “You look at Reynolds [ 0- for- 4, two strikeouts], he’s been swinging the bat well. [ Melky] Cabrera [ 0for- 4, three strikeouts] has been swinging the bat well.”

The Pirates snapped their nine- game losing streak on Tuesday but were unable to win two in a row for the first time since July 6- 7.

Cincinnati’s Jesse Winker gave his team a 1- 0 lead before most fans sat down in their seats, knocking the first pitch from Pirates starter Dario Agrazal into the left- field seats. Agrazal took the loss.