RC+ Recap: Reds 7, Angels 4 – The Luis Castillo Show

by — August 5, 2019 in Game Recap

Nevermind another shaky bullpen performance. Save that conversation for another day. Monday night was all about Luis Castillo.

The Reds ace confounded the Angels, striking out a career-best 13 hitters. The last Cincinnati pitcher to do that was Raisel Iglesias in 2015. (Please take this moment to be sad that Iglesias’ shoulder didn’t hold up when he was a starter. Okay, back to Castillo.)

Castillo threw 119 pitches — also a career-high — in seven innings of work and struck out over half (52%) of the hitters he faced. He allowed only two runs (both on home runs) on three hits and one walk. Angels hitters whiffed 26 times on Castillo’s offerings. It’s the second time Castillo has hit that number in 2019. The other pitchers to get that many swings and misses in a game this year: Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, Blake Snell, Lucas Giolito, Matthew Boyd, and Max Scherzer. Elite company.

The changeup was more nasty than ever for the right-hander. He got 18 whiffs with the pitch, the second-highest total for any pitcher’s changeup in a game since pitch tracking data became available in 2008. Angels hitters offered at 25 changeups, giving Castillo an astounding 72% whiff rate with the pitch.

Strut away, La Piedra.

Meanwhile, the Reds offense put up five runs against Angels opener Taylor Cole to provide all the cushion Castillo would need.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Mike Trout since he only comes to town once every three years. The best player in baseball showed he was human by dropping a fly ball in the first inning — his second error in the last three seasons — but also hit a 110-mph home run off Castillo and had a beautiful slide into second base on a steal.

Reds Most Valuable Players

  • Luis Castillo: .143 WPA (Win Probability Added) | 7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 13 K
  • José Iglesias: .106 WPA | 1-for-4, RBI double
  • Aristides Aquino: .088 WPA | 1-for-3, RBI single

Reds Least Valuable Players

  • Eugenio Suarez: -.065 WPA | 0.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB
  • Wandy Peralta: -.018 WPA | 1-for-5, 2 K, RBI

Play of the Game

  • José Iglesias: .116 WPA | RBI double in 1st inning

Hardest-Hit Balls

  • Eugenio Suarez: 100.8 mph flyout in 7th inning
  • José Iglesias: 98.0 mph double in 1st inning
  • Nick Senzel: 97.9 mph lineout in 5th inning

Luckiest Hit of the Day

  • Tucker Barnhart: .200 xBA, 83.0 mph, 3° LA; Single

Unluckiest Out of the Day

  • Nick Senzel: .570 xBA, 97.9 mph, 5° LA; Lineout

Highest Pitch Velocities by Pitcher

  • Michael Lorenzen: 98.5 mph four-seam fastball
  • Luis Castillo: 98.1 mph two-seam fastball
  • Wandy Peralta: 97.2 mph four-seam fastball
  • Raisel Iglesias: 96.8 mph four-seam fastball
  • David Hernandez: 94.9 mph four-seam fastball

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Matt Wilkes

Matt Wilkes got hooked on Reds baseball after attending his first game in Cinergy Field at 6 years old, and he hasn’t looked back. As a kid, he was often found imitating his favorite players — Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Sean Casey, and Austin Kearns — in the backyard. When he finally went inside, he was leading the Reds to 162-0 seasons in MVP Baseball 2005 or keeping stats for whatever game was on TV. He started writing about baseball in 2014 and has become fascinated by analytics and all the new data in the game. Matt is also a graduate of The Ohio State University and currently lives in Chicago. Follow him on Twitter at @_MattWilkes.

2 Responses

  1. Nasalalarm says:
    August 6, 2019 at 9:03 AM

    Love the content and love the breakdowns, but is it possible to get a page dedicated to definitions of some of these new analytics? I mean I know people could just google it, but it might be handy to have in the site? Just a thought. Keep it up!

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