Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Castillo has Marlins’ number
Pitcher strikes out 11, improves record to 3-0 against former team
MIAMI — Curt Casali found his swing in no time at all.
Casali homered and drove in three runs, helping Luis Castillo and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Miami Marlins 8-5 on Tuesday night.
In his second game since returning from the injured list, Casali hit a tying solo drive off Caleb Smith (8-8) in the fourth inning. He batted again in the fifth and hit a two-run single off Tyler Kinley, giving the Reds a 5-3 lead.
Casali, a 30-year-old catcher, had been sidelined by a sprained right knee.
“I felt good at the plate immediately and that was awesome,” he said. “Usually it takes me the longest to get my timing.”
Cincinnati also got a big game from Eugenio Suarez, who went deep for the third straight day and finished with three hits. Suarez leads the team with 37 homers.
The Reds have won the first two games in the four-game set after they were swept at Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Jorge Alfaro homered for the third straight game for last-place Miami, which has dropped three of four. Jon Berti had three hits, and Isan Diaz had two RBIs.
Smith allowed five runs and five hits in 42⁄3 innings.
“Just not throwing strikes, getting behind in counts, and having to put it over the heart of the plate and they were doing damage,” Smith said.
Cincinnati opened a 7-3 lead on Nick Senzel’s two-run homer in the sixth. After Alfaro got two back with his 14th homer in the bottom half, Senzel added an RBI single in the seventh.
Castillo remained unbeaten against the organization that traded him before the 2017 season.
Castillo (13-5) allowed five runs and seven hits, struck out 11 and walked two in six innings. The right-hander also went 2 for 3 at the plate while improving to 3-0 against Miami.
Raisel Iglesias got four outs for his 27th save.
The Reds got off to a solid start behind Suarez, who hit a two-run shot in the first. It was Suarez’s 13th first-inning homer of the year, breaking the Reds’ record of 12 by George Foster in 1977.
“I didn’t even know about that,” Suarez said of the record.
The Marlins tied it in the bottom of the inning on Diaz’s tworun double to right-center. Diaz was thrown out at third as he tried for a triple.
No hard feelings
Castillo said he doesn’t have any extra motivation when he faces Miami.
“Any time you step on the mound you have to do your job,” Castillo said in Spanish. “But I don’t have any animosity or bad feelings because it is a team that treated me well. I have always loved that team and I will never have any bitter feelings toward them.”