CINCINNATI – The Reds didn’t exactly intend to have Jeff Hoffman and José De León in their 202 rotation. It became necessary when Sonny Gray and Michael Lorenzen opened the regular season on the injury list.
Like Hoffman on Sunday, De León took full advantage of his opportunity to step up on Monday against pirates. In a lack of decision, he eliminated nine innings over five or more before the Reds took a 5-3 victory at Great American Ball Park. Once again, Nick Castellanos managed with a great home run that tied 2-2 at the bottom of the seventh inning to help Cincinnati win for the third time in its first four games.
“We’re going to have to stand up to each other,” Reds manager David Bell said. “We talked about having the initial pitching depth and we’re lucky to have that, but for those guys to get through, step straight and be an important part of a successful pitching staff, it helps us keep running. . “
In his first start of 2016 with the Dodgers, De León started the evening in a bad way. His 2-2 change, with an exit in the first half, missed the attack area, and Phillip Evans crushed it for a 445-meter solo homer on the left-center field. Catcher Tucker Barnhart was seen squatting as the ball left Evans’ bat. Two strokes later, with two outs, Colin Moran tilted a slider on the first step for a 374-foot homer on the right field, who made a 2-0 play.
Nothing De León did after that made anyone startle – except maybe he hit Pirates, who fired one more shot at him. With an average rain of 94 mph, De León hit the first two beats of the second half.
“I was able to settle for the two solo photos. Solo shootings won’t kill you, “De León said.” I was just coming out with a different edge in the second half and I was more aggressive. I took it personally. “
De León, who had not beaten Rays since 2019, received a run himself. Running from first base, Nick Senzel defeated a defender chosen by a player from Jonathan India. Two beats later, with two outs, De León hit one through the right to score Senzel for his first major league hit and RBI.
In the third half, following a single from pitcher JT Brubaker and a shortstop error by Eugenio Suárez when he stifled the exchange for the double play, De León burst out later – all with leads of either 94 or 95 mph – including the two hitters who burned him for earlier homers, Evans and Moran.
In the fourth half, De León withdrew the team in order on five pitches. Until then, he was still a little tired of leading the bases in the second half.
“I had to try to calm down. That half was when I felt something click,” De León said. “I was taking my time on the mound between the fields, I was taking deep breaths. It was something that I think helped me a little tired of that half.”
De León hit the side again in the fifth half, which included a two-run walk. Bell raised his right hand after an opening walk to open the top of the sixth inning.
On Sunday, Hoffman won 12-1 over the Cardinals with five strong single-run baseball innings. He was still the record pitcher in the bottom of the fifth, when Castellanos crushed a three-stage homer to break a 1-1 draw.
“These are the kind of starts we need from him and all our beginners,” said Mike Moustakas, who tied the game at 2 with a two-field solo homer on the right field in the fifth inning. “Especially when we don’t score races and are able to do that, it takes the pressure off us.”
The races stopped being harder to succeed once Castellanos scored in the fourth appearance of the evening, with an exit in the seventh half. Eight more rounds marked in the eighth.
Against Pittsburgh’s left-hander Sam Howard, Castellanos acknowledged a nice 3-1 slide after blowing to run a full number. Howard followed with a fast ball of 94 mph, and Castellanos was everywhere with a run of 431 feet to the left field, which left his bat at 108.9 mph. He overturned his bat and rounded the bases, ending his day better than he started.
Earlier in the day, MLB granted Castellanos a two-game suspension for his role in a bank clearing incident Saturday against St. Louis. Louis. He is allowed to play while waiting for his call.
“Obviously, it took us to start this season,” Moustakas said. “His energy is electric.”