Strong pitching from Castillo carries Reds past Braves
Luis Castillo pitched six shutout innings and third baseman Eugenio Suarez drove in three runs and scored another to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-2 win over the visiting Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
Castillo (3-1) allowed eight hits, no walks and struck out a season-low two batters. He also got a base hit -- his first of the season -- and scored a run. Castillo has posted a 1.16 ERA in his last 11 starts since Aug. 1, 2018.
Suarez, who has struggled since moving to No. 2 in the lineup, was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. He entered the game hitting .161 in his last eight starts hitting second.
The Reds won two games in the three-game series and have not lost a series against Atlanta since 2014. Cincinnati has won five of its last seven.
Castillo needed some help from his bullpen, particularly David Hernandez. The right-hander entered the game in the seventh after Castillo had loaded the bases on three consecutive singles, and he struck out the next three Atlanta hitters.
Minutes later the game was delayed by rain for two hours and 42 minutes, resuming play at 11:31 p.m.
Atlanta cut the lead to 3-2 in the eighth inning when Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer, his third, against reliever Zach Duke. That's when Cincinnati manager David Bell brought in closer Raisel Iglesias, who recorded a five-out save, his sixth.
The losing pitcher was Julio Teheran (2-3), who gave up three runs on five hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out seven, matching his season high.
Cincinnati scored a run in the third on an RBI single by Suarez and went ahead 3-0 in the fifth when Suarez doubled home a pair. Suarez scored an insurance run in the eighth on Kyle Farmer's sacrifice fly.
Freeman had three hits and has now reached base in all 24 games to start the season. He is three games shy of the Atlanta record for a season-opening on-base streak, set by J.D. Drew in 2004.
--Field Level Media
