Castillo only gave up four hits over his five innings, but two of the three walks he issued scored. And after one of those walks, Daniel Descalso hit a two-run home run.
Before the game, Homer Bailey received the news that he won’t make his next scheduled start Sunday in San Diego. He and his 1-and-7 record have been relegated to the bullpen, a place he has never occupied.
Bailey, clearly unhappy about it, will serve in long and middle relief for the near future. With a day off Thursday, the Reds won’t immediately need to find a replacement in the rotation. Castillo will pitch Sunday on his regular four days of rest.
Also before the game, the Reds demoted relief pitcher Tanner Rainey to Class AAA Louisville and promoted Jesus Reyes from Class AA Pensacola. He has not pitched in Triple-A and his numbers at Pensacola were not good.
For the second straight night at Chase Field the Reds scored a run in the first inning, but quickly gave the lead away for good.
And for the second straight night the Reds outhit the Diamondbacks, but didn’t come close to winning. On Monday they outhit the D-Backs 16-11 but lost, 12-5. On Tuesday they outhit the D-Backs 7-4 but lost, 5-2.
Alex Blandino, playing shortstop, led the game with a double and scored on Joey Votto’s one-out single. But they left two men on base in the first and stranded six in the first four innings.
Castillo retired the first two D-Backs in the bottom of the first, but he walked Jake Lamb and Descalso, playing first base for the resting Paul Goldschmidt, unloaded a home run deep into the right field seats for a 2-1 lead.
Castillo walked Jarrod Dyson to open the third and he scored from first on Ketel Marte’s double into the right field corner. Marte scored on Jake Lamb’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.
The Reds infield made three errors in Monday’s loss and another two-out error led to Arizona’s fifth run. With two outs and a runner on second in the fifth inning, shortstop Alex Blandino picked up Jake Lamb’s ground ball and threw it into the dirt and it eluded first baseman Joey Votto as Dyson scored from second base to make it 5-1.
The only noise the Reds made after the first inning came off the bat of Eugenio Suarez leading off the sixth inning. He launched one 451 feet over the center field wall for his 10th home run.
After that the Reds had only one hit, a leadoff single by Billy Hamilton in the seventh, but Blandino hit into a double play.
The Reds went down in order in the eighth with Archie Bradley on the mound and closer Brad Boxberger, the Reds No. 1 sandwich pick in 2009, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Diamondbacks, 2-and-15 when the series began, have won the first two games of this series and the Reds are 1-and-4 so far on this trip. They have an afternoon game against Arizona Wednesday, then a three-game weekend series in San Diego.
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