Cincinnati Reds right fielder Nick Castellanos imagined what it must be like for opposing pitchers to face the Reds lineup right now.
The Reds are averaging over seven runs per game during their last 11 games. They’ve won nine of their last 11. And they just got Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas off the injured list and back into the starting lineup.
The Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-3 on Saturday night at Great American Ball Park in front of 31,297 fans. It was another statement game for the Reds, who have the highest team OPS in MLB over the last 30 games.
“The pitchers sitting in that bullpen are watching balls get rocketed all over the field,” Castellanos said. “From a confidence standpoint, it’s good. To see the guys in front of you square balls up, take good swings and put good at-bats together and to kind of see the pitcher get fidgety and start looking around or start out of a groove I’d say, we thrive off that.”
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As much as the entire Reds offense has performed over the last three weeks, Castellanos is still having the best season of anyone in the Reds lineup. During July, Castellanos missed half of the month with a wrist injury, and the Reds activated Castellanos on Thursday. But he didn’t get a hit in his first two games off the injured list.
On Saturday, Castellanos was back with two hits and two RBI.
“He saw some pitches the last couple of nights,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Tonight, it looked like he was able to take some really good swings, and it was nice to see those hits and see that into tomorrow.”
Left fielder Jesse Winker, who’s hitting .397 with a 1.293 OPS over his last 15 games, tied his career high with six RBI against the Pirates.
“Classic Wink, right?” Castellanos said. “He’s been doing that all year.”
When this run started for the Reds offense in late July, Castellanos was on the IL and Winker was just starting this stretch of success at the plate. Then Kyle Farmer, Jonathan India and Joey Votto had a few of their best weeks of the year. Then the Reds got two former All-Stars in Castellanos and Moustakas back into the lineup.
The result has been the best statistical offense in baseball over the last month.
“We did have some injuries like a lot of teams,” Bell said. “But the players on this team really stepped up and did everything in their power to keep after it and continue to win even at some really tough points. It’s put us in the position where we are now.”
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In the bottom of the third inning on Saturday, Castellanos gave the Reds a 2-1 lead with a ground ball past the Pirates’ diving shortstop. Then in the bottom of the fifth, Castellanos hit a home run into the right field bullpen.
Later in the game, he added two lineouts into the outfield that could have been extra-base hits if they hadn’t been hit right to a Pirates outfielder.
Winker hit a two-run single in the sixth, which gave the Reds at least five runs in 14 of their last 15 games. He added onto the Reds lead in the eighth with a three-run homer on a line drive to right field.
“When the middle of your order is swinging the bat with confidence, that does help a lot,” Bell said. “It helps take the pressure off the rest of the lineup.”
Starting pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez allowed just one run in six innings, and eight different players scored a run for the Reds. Votto hit another home run, India reached base four times and Moustakas walked twice.
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As the offense kept rolling, the Reds improved to a season-high nine games above .500.
“(I’m) watching this group of guys slowly turn into a team and really buy into one theme and one goal, which is to put Cincinnati into the postseason and deep into the postseason,” Castellanos said. “It’s a process. We’ve had some ups, we’ve had some downs. Right now, we’re playing good baseball. Most importantly, I think we’re having fun.”
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