Castillo pitches Reds past Dodgers in opener
Luis Castillo lived up to his La Piedra nickname Friday night in Great American Ball Park.
La Piedra. The Rock. Castillo, a 15-game loser this season, pitched like a 15-game winner in arguably the biggest game of the season for the Cincinnati Reds.
He was facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, the highest scor- ing team in the majors and matched up against 14-game winner Walker Buehler.
But working in a playoff-like atmosphere, Castillo and his fast-dipping, deep-diving change-up and 98 to 100 mph fastball, held the Dodgers scoreless for 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts, paving the way for a 3-1 victory in the first game of a three-game series against the defending World Series champions.
Castillo humbled the thun- der. The Dodgers discovered that trying to hit Castillo on this night was like being asked to name the world’s capitals in alphabetical order.
And it was a Luis type of night. Luis Cessa followed Cas- tillo with 1 2/3 perfect innings.
The Dodgers scored their r un in the ninth inning off Michael Lorenzen and pinch-hitter Albert Pujols came to the plate with two outs, representing the tying run. Pujols lined out to center to end it.
“We were playing a high-quality team with great batters and with everything involved, it definitely felt like a playoff game,” said Castillo. “For that reason, I felt even more focused today.”
Mookie Betts led off the game with a double, but Castillo struck out Max Muncy and Trea Turner, issued a walk and retired Justin Turner on a ground ball.
His only other issue was in the sixth when Trea Turner rolled a broken-bat single to center and Corey Seager rolled an infield hit the opposite way from the shift. Fly balls from Justin Turner and Will Smith ended that threat.
“It’s my positive mentality and I keep telling myself, ‘I’m good at this, I’m good at this,’” said Castillo. “That helps me out.”
Manager David Bell called Castillo’s performance his alltime favorite.
“I told him that I’d seen him pitch a lot of great games, so it’s difficult to compare, but I told him this one was my favorite,” said Bell. “It was really impressive, a different level of execution.
“He was in an extra gear tonight and I noticed it early,” said Bell. “He had to pitch out of a couple of spots, and he looked a little bit different. There was an extra gear, for sure. The better the team, the bigger the challenge, that’s when he finds an extra gear.”