Joey Votto had a two-run double to highlight a four-run third inning and Luis Castillo allowed one run over six innings to win his third consecutive start as the Cincinnati Reds earned a split of their two-game series with the visiting Minnesota Twins with a 6-5 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Tyler Stephenson homered and had two hits and Jonathan India went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI for the Reds, who won for the sixth time in their last eight games.
Castillo (6-10), who began the season with a 1-8 record, allowed six hits and a walk while striking out seven. He hasn't lost since dropping a 3-2 decision at San Diego on June 20. Michael Lorenzen pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings to earn his first save.
Jorge Polanco had two hits, including a home run, and scored twice, Luis Arraez went 3-for-3 with two walks and Ryan Jeffers also had two hits for the Twins. Charlie Barnes (0-2) suffered the loss after allowing five runs and seven hits over four innings.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Polanco hit his 18th home run of the season, his third consecutive game with a homer.
Cincinnati took a 4-1 lead in the third thanks to three consecutive two-out hits. Kyle Farmer tied it with an RBI single driving in Shogo Akiyama, who had walked and was sacrificed to second. Votto followed with a double into the gap in left-center to drive in Jesse Winker, who had walked, and Farmer. Stephenson then singled in Votto.
The Reds extended the lead to 5-1 in the fourth on India's two-out single to left, driving in Akiyama who had walked and was sacrificed to second. Stephenson then made it 6-1 in the seventh with his sixth homer of the season, a 420-foot drive to center off reliever Beau Burrows.
Minnesota cut it to 6-5 in the eighth with an RBI double by Miguel Sano, a two-run double by Trevor Larnach and an RBI single by Jeffers and had a chance to take the lead after Max Kepler doubled to put runners at second and third. But Lorenzen, who earlier struck out pinch-hitter Josh Donaldson, got out of the jam by striking out Brent Rooker.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Cincinnati | |
Charlie Barnes | Player | Luis Castillo |
Loss | W/L | Win |
4.0 | IP | 6.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 7 |
7 | Hits | 6 |
11.25 | ERA | 1.50 |
Minnesota | Cincinnati | |
Luis Arraez | Player | Jonathan India |
3 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 4 |
1.000 | Avg | .600 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Minnesota | 11 | 1 | 18 | .306 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Cincinnati | 9 | 1 | 14 | .300 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 |