McCoy: Reds waste Castillo gem; blanked for fourth time in last seven games

Credit: Eric Espada

Credit: Eric Espada

The entire Cincinnati Reds roster owes Luis Castillo a four-course meal at an exotic South Beach restaurant on Miami’s South Beach.

And include an expensive bottle of French wine.

Castillo pitched the game of his short big league life Friday night in Marlins Park. He pitched 8 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

And the Reds lost, 1-0, in 10 innings to the lowly Miami Marlins. The game ended when 28-year-old rookie Isaac Galloway, who spent 11 years in the minors, ripped a walk-off double off the right field wall against David Hernandez.

Castillo was victimized by a dead end offense as the Reds were shut out for the fourth time in their last seven games.

Castillo gave up no runs, five hits, walked one and struck out struck five. He had two six-pitch innings and needed only 103 pitches to cover the 8 1/3 innings. It was particularly gratifying to Castillo because it was the Marlins who traded him to the Reds for veteran pitcher Dan Straily.

His offense? The Reds had three hits.

Castillo ran into a guy who loves wearing the Miami home uniform but hates wearing the road gear. Wai-Yin Chen is 1-8 on the road with an earned run average above 8.00 and 5-3 at home with an earned run average below 2.00.

And the left hander from Taiwan held the Reds to no runs, three hits, no walks and struck out eight.

Castillo began the ninth inning for the first time this year and gave up a one-out single to Starlin Carstro and Castillo was still throwing 98 miles per hour fastballs.

But when he walked J.T. Realmuto on a full count, his first walk of the game, manager Jim Riggleman took him down for David Hernandez. And Hernandez bailed out Castillo by inducing a double play from rookie Peter O’Brien.

Hernandez came back out for the 10th and gave up a one-out double to right field by rookie Brian Anderson.

That brought up Galloway, who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning and perpetrated a faux pas. Magneuris Sierra bunted the ball to Castillo. He threw to second to force Galloway and the throw to first was too late.

But Riggleman challenged Galloway’s pop-up slide at second and the replay/review revealed that it was a slide violation and Sierra was ruled out at first, a double play.

Now Galloway, toting a .206 average to home plate, lined one over right fielder Phillip Ervin’s head for a game-winning double. This is a guy who is 28 years old and spent his first six professional season playing in Class A.

Early in the game the Reds wasted two leadoff doubles against Chen. Curt Casali led the third with a double, but shortstop Blake Trahan struck out, Castillo struck out and Billy Hamilton flied to left.

Ervin led the fifth with a double, but Casali flied to right, moving Ervin to third (the only Reds runner to reach that location), then was out at home trying to score on Trahan’s grounder to shortstop.

The Reds had only one base runner after Ervin’s fifth-inning double, a walk with two outs in the ninth to Joey Votto. The other hit was an infield single to third base by Eugenio Suarez.

Scooter Gennett, who had two hits and drove in all four runs in Thursday’s 4-2 win, Sal Romano’s first major league win as a starter, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, dropping his average to .316, three points behind league-leading Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers.

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