Luis Castillo makes final start of a strong 2019 season

by — September 26, 2019 in Game Recap

Luis Castillo makes his last start for the Reds. Castillo has made significant progress in 2019. His strikeout rate (28.8 K%) is the highest of his career. He gained almost 10% in ground ball rate. Castillo’s swinging-strike rate (15.9%) is fourth highest among MLB starters, trailing only Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. He leads Jacob deGrom. Castillo has faced Milwaukee four times in 2019, and his starts against the Brewers represent the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

The Reds (73-85) take the field at GABP for the final time in 2019. You may have heard it’s also the final broadcast for Marty Brennaman, who has called Reds games for an impressive 46 season.

The Brewers have clinched a spot in the Wild Card play-in game. But they remain just 1.5 games out of the NL Central lead. The Cardinals dropped their final two games in Arizona and have today off. They then have three games with the Cubs in St. Louis.

Pitching Matchup

Reds Lineup

Mike Hart: Eugenio Suarez gets the day off. Let’s hope he gets a pinch-hit appearance so Marty gets a chance to potentially call his 50th home run! Suarez has 9 HRs off of the Brewers this season, tied for the most off of any team this year.

Here are the splits for Reds hitters against right-handed pitchers:

Brewers Lineup

[Graphics: Baseball Savant]

Big thanks to Mike Hart, who contributed graphics and research for this post.

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Steve Mancuso

Steve Mancuso is a lifelong Reds fan who grew up during the Big Red Machine era. He’s been writing about the Reds for more than ten years. Steve’s fondest memories about the Reds include attending a couple 1975 World Series games, being at Homer Bailey’s second no-hitter and going nuts for Jay Bruce at Clinchmas. Steve was also at all three games of the 2012 NLDS, but it’s too soon to talk about that.

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