Reds bullpen blows the lead behind 11 strikeouts by Luis Castillo

Luis Castillo was brilliant, striking out 11 batters in a 1-run, 6.0 inning effort. But the bullpen couldn’t keep the 3-1 lead that they were handed as the Tigers scored five runs over the final three innings to complete the comeback in game two of the season.

The Offense

The Tigers jumped out to an early lead, grabbing a run in the top of the 1st inning. But the Reds revamped offense didn’t take long to get that run back, though that run came off of the bat of the longest tenured Red as Joey Votto clobbered his second homer in as many days. The 399-foot home run into right-center tied things up in the bottom of the 1st. In the bottom of the second Nick Senzel drew a 4-pitch walk. It would be an important walk as Freddy Galvis followed with a 372-foot homer of his own, watching it land on top of the visiting bullpen down the right field line (yes, the Reds bullpen is back in center this year) to put Cincinnati up 3-1.

The offense went silent for a while, and while that happened it allowed the Tigers to stick around. And that they did. In the 7th they got going and took a 4-3 lead on a Miguel Cabrera 2-run homer. In the bottom of the inning it was Curt Casali getting back at his first professional organization with a game-tying solo homer of his own. The Reds threatened in the 8th, but stranded runners on second and third to send the game to the 9th inning all tied up. A 1-out walk by Josh VanMeter led to a big opportunity for Joey Votto, but for what feels like the 8th time in two days he hit a bullet to the first baseman for an out. Eugenio Suarez was the last hope for the Reds with VanMeter at second, but the third baseman flew out to the edge of the warning track to end the game.

The Pitching

Luis Castillo simply dominated the Detroit Tigers lineup. In the first inning he got burned by an infield hit – leading to the only run that he gave up on the day as a double followed. Beyond that, it was complete domination for the Reds right-handed All-Star pitcher. He spread out six hits and a walk while racking up 11 strikeouts on the day. In his final inning he needed just 13 pitches to pick up his final three strikeouts on the day as he made the Tigers hitters look like, well, the Detroit Tigers.

The bullpen, however, didn’t get out to a good start. Robert Stephenson gave up a homer to the first hitter he faced in the 7th inning and brought Detroit within a run. A blooper to center field followed. Stephenson would strike out Niko Goodrum for the first out of the inning, but was replaced by Michael Lorenzen. He would get a force out, but hung a change up to Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera who hit it 390-feet into the seats to put the Tigers up 4-3 in the top of the 7th inning. Amir Garrett entered for the top of the 8th and made easy work of it, striking out the first two hitters he faced before getting a ground out to shortstop to end the inning.

And then the 9th inning happen. Raisel Iglesias came in and gave up an opposite field single that was followed up by a 2-run, go-ahead homer by JaCoby Jones. Niko Goodrum followed with a single before a pop up and Miguel Cabrera’s 4th strikeout of the game took place. C.J. Cron would strike out to end the inning, but the damage had long been done.

Notes Worth Noting

Joey Votto’s home run in the 1st inning made him the first Reds player to homer in the first two games in a season since Todd Frazier did so in 2015. That one from Thom Brennaman on the Fox Sports Ohio broadcast.

Luis Castillo’s 11 strikeouts on the day gave him an even 500 in his career. Not a bad way to follow up Sonny Gray reaching 1000 career strikeouts on Friday night.

The Reds pitchers had 17 strikeouts in the game with just one walk. But they also allowed three homers.

Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds

Detroit Tigers (1-1) vs Cincinnati Reds (1-1)

Sunday July 26th, 1:10pm ET

Spencer Turnbull (4.61 ERA, 3-17 in 2019) vs. Trevor Bauer (4.48 ERA, 11-13 in 2019)