Luis Castillo follows up no-hitter as Reds face Indians again

After watching teammate Wade Miley pitch the 17th no-hitter in Cincinnati Reds’ history to open this weekend road series with the Cleveland Indians, Luis Castillo hopes to keep his team’s momentum rolling when he takes the ball next.

Looking to avoid a third straight losing decision, Castillo tries to help the Reds to a third consecutive victory Saturday night against the Indians, who aim to rebound from being no-hit for the second time this season.

Cleveland had won five in a row and nine of 11, but had no answer for the 34-year-old Miley during Friday’s 3-0 defeat. The veteran left-hander retired the first 16 batters he faced, and finished with eight strikeouts and one walk over 114 pitches to record the 17th no-hitter in Reds’ history — and first by a Red since Homer Bailey against San Francisco in 2013.

“That was just a blast. Surreal,” said Miley, who pitched Cincinnati to its sixth win in nine games.

Cleveland, which totaled 29 runs during its five-game winning streak, is the third team in Major League Baseball history to be no-hit twice over its first 31 games — according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Carlos Rodon of the Chicago White Sox no-hit the Indians on April 14.

No team has been no-hit three times in one season.

“I’d like to see our guys make some adjustments,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said.

Now, the Indians try to bounce back against Castillo (1-3, 6.07 ERA), Cincinnati’s opening-day starter who is 0-1 with a 3.27 ERA in two career starts against the Indians. The right-hander allowed three runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings during a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs last weekend.

Even though Castillo has not won since April 7, his effort against the Cubs was his second-longest outing of the season. He had failed to complete more than five innings over each of his previous three starts prior to facing Chicago.

“The stuff pitching coach (Derek Johnson) and I worked in the bullpen seemed to be clicking this time,” Castillo told the Reds’ official website. “I think definitely we’ve been making progress.”

The Rosarios, Amed and Eddie, are a combined 6-for-10 against Castillo.

Cleveland turns to Aaron Civale (4-0, 3.20 ERA), who will try again to record a career-high fifth victory. Prior to this season, Civale totaled seven wins over 22 career starts spanning the 2019 and ’20 campaigns. Four of those came last year, when he didn’t record the last victory until September.

Thanks to a run-support average of seven, the right-hander equaled that win total in four starts and will make a second attempt Saturday at setting that career high. Civale, who has never faced the Reds, allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings of the Indians’ 8-6 victory at Kansas City on Monday.

Nick Castellanos is the only player on the Cincinnati roster to face Civale, going 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts. However, Castellanos is batting .321 this season. Teammate Jesse Winker, who along with Castellanos scored during the Reds’ three-run ninth Friday, is batting .354 in 2021, and 10-for-28 in his last seven games against Cleveland.

–Field Level Media

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