When Luis Castillo left the game in the top of the 7th inning the score was 2-1 as he outdueled Brandon Woodruff. But the Cincinnati Reds (28-27) went off in the 8th inning, hitting two home runs – one by Curt Casali and another by Mike Moustakas – to extend their lead to 6-1. That was more than enough as Cincinnati held on for a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers (26-27) in game one of the 3-game set in Cincinnati on Monday night.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Brewers (26-27) |
3 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (28-27) |
6 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Castillo (4-5) L: Woodruff (2-5) |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
After going 1-2-3 in the 1st inning, the Reds got things moving in the 2nd. Eugenio Suárez walked to lead off the inning, and Mike Moustakas followed up with a double to put two on with no out. But, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, the Reds had a hitter hit a laser right at a defender and came away with no runs in the inning. Two innings later the Reds duo of Suárez and Moustakas got onboard, but a ground ball double play ended the threat as the game remained scoreless.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 6th, Nick Castellanos doubled with one out to try and get something started. He moved over to third on a wild pitch. Joey Votto grounded out, but Castellanos had to hold up at third. After falling down 1-2 in the count to Brandon Woodruff, Eugenio Suárez took an 82-MPH curveball and put it into the left field seats to put the Reds ahead 2-1.
After a huge top of the 8th inning by Raisel Iglesias to strand the tying run, Curt Casali came out for the bottom of the inning and welcomed Drew Rasmussen with a solo home run to extend the Cincinnati lead to 3-1. Shogo Akiyama would single to follow, and after Nick Castellanos struck out, Joey Votto walked. Suárez would strike out for the second out of the inning, but Mike Moustakas hoped he put the cherry on top with a 3-run homer to extend the lead to 6-1.
The Pitching
Luis Castillo was strong through the first four innings of the game, holding the Brewers without a run and had allowed just two base runners – both in the 1st inning. But Milwaukee got to him in the top of the 5th when Jedd Gyorko homered to lead off the inning and put the Brewers up 1-0. Castillo settled back in after that….. until the 7th inning. After a strikeout to begin the inning, Castillo walked Gyorko and Jace Peterson doubled over the head of Shogo Akiyama to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Holding onto a 2-1 lead, Castillo struck out Orlando Arcia for the second out of the inning.
Manager David Bell brought in Amir Garrett from the bullpen to face Omar Narvaez, but Milwaukee pinch hit for him, bringing in right-handed hitter Tyrone Taylor. Garrett came out on top, getting a ground out to third base to end the inning and hold the lead. Garrett returned to begin the 8th inning and he started off with a strikeout of Avisail Garcia. The lefty walked Christian Yelich, though, and that was the end of his night as Raisel Iglesias emerged from the bullpen to try and get out of the inning. And get out of it he did, inducing a grounder to shortstop on the third pitch he threw to Ryan Braun, with Freddy Galvis flipping to Mike Moustakas, who threw to Joey Votto to turn an inning-ending double play and hold the lead.
After a 4-run bottom of the 8th inning, the Reds turned the game over to Nate Jones. A leadoff single by Daniel Vogelbach. After back-to-back strikeouts, that single came back to count as Jace Peterson crushed a no-doubt 2-run homer to make it 6-3. Jones would get Eric Sogard to fly out to end the game three pitches later and seal the win.
Notes Worth Noting
Curt Casali is hitting just .224, but he’s doing plenty of walking and plenty of slugging. His on-base percentage is up to .373 and his slugging is up to .522, giving him an .895 OPS on the season.
Luis Castillo lowered his ERA to 2.86 on the season. He also picked up nine more strikeouts on the year in his 6.2 innings pitched, and walked just one batter.
This happened…..
Also, this guy. pic.twitter.com/8bSPBHRiPZ
— A . ? (@GiantAsianMan) September 22, 2020
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Cincinnati Reds
Tuesday September 22nd, 6:40pm ET
Brett Anderson (3-3, 4.38 ERA) vs Sonny Gray (5-3, 3.94 ERA)