Home runs lead to Castillo’s undoing
Pirates 6, Reds 2
PITTSBURGH — For a couple of seconds, Reds reliever Austin Brice stood with his hands on his hips while looking out toward left field.
As Brice stared in the distance, Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison was circling the bases after hitting a two-run home run as celebratory fireworks sounded.
The Pirates smacked three home runs Saturday, and the Reds were dealt a 6-2 loss at PNC Park.
Reds right-hander Luis Castillo surrendered home runs to Colin Moran and Elias Diaz in his five-inning outing. He didn’t have his normal electricity with his fastball and change-up, recording two strikeouts.
Castillo has allowed a National Leaguehigh 17 home runs this season, including seven in his last five starts. Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton tries his best but can’t come up with a home run hit by the Pirates’ Colin Moran in the third inning.
“Every time I go out there, I give up like one or two homers,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “I really don’t know what’s happening right now. I’m just going to keep working in the bullpen and try to do my best.”
When Castillo struggled at the beginning of the season, he worked on his arm angle between starts with pitching coach Danny Darwin.
Reds manager
Jim Riggleman said he thought some of Castillo’s pitches were coming out flat Saturday, but wasn’t sure if that was related to his arm angle.
“We don’t have any question in our mind, he’s going to be a good major-league pitcher,” Riggleman said. “But we’re dealing with results here. If he needs to do something with his arm angle or whatever, Danny Darwin and our pitching guys are going to know a lot more about that than I am.”
The Reds’ Eugenio Suarez hit his teamleading 13th home run of the season, tying the score at 1 in the second inning.
Moran, the Pirates’ third baseman, hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, he whacked 3-and-1 fastball beyond the 399-foot mark in center field.
In the fourth inning, Diaz pulled a pitch into the left-field seats.
Castillo was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth inning, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings.
The Reds were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position after going 0-for-12 Friday.
“We didn’t situational hit (Friday) night or today,” Riggleman said. “We got some big hits in Kansas City; we didn’t get a lot of hits. We just have to get it going.”