Luis Castillo No Cy Young Today

Luis Castillo made the first step toward his goal of winning the Cy Young Award but after his outing against the Texas Rangers, he is way behind his goal.

Castillo felt good but didn't throw enough strikes or even put the ball where he wanted to.

In his short 2/3 of an inning covering eight batters, he gave up three singles and two walks while three Texas Ranger runners crossed the plate.

"I feel very healthy, actually," Castillo said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. "I was trying to throw strikes but I was all over the place.  This is the time you get ready for the season but this team is a family.  I'm not trying to give up runs for them.  What I did today didn't work.  We'll try to do something different next time."

His family picked him up in the bottom of the first inning.

"It was his first time out. He just didn't find his groove," David Bell said.

The Texas pitcher, Arturo Reyes, had his own problems.

Josh VanMeter walked to open the Reds' half.  Joey Votto lined out and Nick Castellanos grounded out to first in their first spring at bats.  Mike Moustakas was grazed by a pitch. Tucker Batnhart walked.  Phillip Ervin cleared the left field fence for a grand slam in his first at bat.

So as reporters talked to Castillo in the tunnel in center field, the Reds held a 4-3 lead.

"At the time Phil hit the home run I was talking to Mario Soto," Castillo giggled. "I said man at least I'm not going to lose today."

Moustakas hit a home run off Luis Garcia in the third inning. Nick Castellanos doubled home Votto from fist in the fourth inning.  Jonathan India the Reds top pick in the 2018 draft drove home Mark Payton in the fifth with a long fly to left

The Reds added on funs as their pitchers put a tourniquet on the the bleeding for a while

T.J. Alaniz finished up for Castillo.  Tyler Thornburg pitched a scoreless inning.  Joel Kuhnel a 1 1/3 scoreless outing.  Sal Romano pitched a scoreless sixt. But Nick Solak his a two-run home run off David Carpenterein the seventh.  Curtis Terry tripled and scored on a single by Adolis Garcia to make it 7-6.
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The Reds added a pair of tainted runs in the eighth to close out a 9-6 win.

"It was good to see Castellanos and Moustakas in Reds uniforms," Bell said.  "They looked really good on their first day out.  Their timing looked good.  They were ready and aggressive. It was really good day offensively.  Even when we didn't get hits we were driving in runs. Really the key offensively we taking close pitches in 3-2 to keep innings going.  It was good to see.'

 The at bats by VanMeter and Barnhart in the first werE good examples.  The Reds took 10 walks and were hit by three pitches.

Ervin,started theis spring off like he did last year.  He was a tough out but went to Louisville to start the season.

"That was fun to see.  Last year he had a good spring and a good season," Bell said.  "That's a good sign. It was a big at bat."