SAN DIEGO –– Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo’s sinker and his fastball were as effective on Sunday as they had been all season, so he used those two pitches on one of the most important at-bats of the game.
In a scoreless game with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Castillo threw three pitches in the strike zone to San Diego Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer. Two of those pitches were ruled balls by the home plate umpire, so Hosmer walked instead of struck out.
On the next at-bat, Padres right fielder Wil Myers hit a three-run triple. Castillo nearly threw six shutout innings on Sunday, but instead he took the loss in a 3-2 defeat to San Diego.
With the loss, the Reds lost their fourth consecutive game and fell back to 35-35. Even though the Reds opened the road trip with a three-game sweep in Milwaukee, Cincinnati fell to 3-4 on the road trip as they left San Diego.
Early on, Castillo looked poised for one of his best starts of the season. He hadn’t thrown a pitch faster than 99.5 all year, but Castillo topped that velocity three times in the first inning against the Padres.
