PITTSBURGH -- Even after a win, the Cincinnati Reds had one regret.

They couldn't get starter Luis Castillo a win.

Castillo came out after four innings Friday night and got a no-decision in the Reds' 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

"Pitch count, really," Reds manager Bryan Price said of yanking Castillo at 89 pitches and with Cincinnati leading 4-2.

"I just felt like it was going to be gratuitous. If I left him in there, it was to try to get him a win at the expense of jacking up a high pitch count toward the end of his season. It was a tough call."

Castillo, one of four rookies in the Reds rotation, sits at 2-7 thanks to some hard luck.

"He's pitched beautifully," Price said. "I would have loved to see him get that third win, or at least be in a position to do that, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on that."

Remaining in the game wouldn't have been a problem, Castillo said, but he wasn't upset.

"He told me he didn't want me to throw 100 pitches," Castillo said of Price, through a translator.

"I feel really good. I feel strong. Even though I've thrown a lot of innings so far, I'm still able to throw 98 (mph). So I feel really good."

In his four innings, Castillo gave up two runs and three hits, with five strikeouts and one walk.

The win instead went to Asher Wojciechowski (4-3), who relieved Castillo and pitched two scoreless innings with one hit, one strikeout and one walk.

Cincinnati (58-77) won its second in a row. The Reds, last in the National League Central, moved within five games of Pittsburgh (63-72), who have lost four straight.

The Pirates fell 11 1/2 games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs. Pittsburgh has lost 14 of 19.

It was a rematch of the starters in a game last Saturday in Cincinnati, but it was no replay.

Pittsburgh's Gerrit Cole (11-9) lasted six innings this time, giving up five runs and six hits. He had been 5-1 in his previous 10 starts -- including seven shutout innings Saturday when his homer off Castillo was the only run in the game.

"I put together a pretty good body of work and there's still more to be done, so I guess you just kind of look at the whole thing," Cole said. "You take 100 pitches out of tonight and you're really frustrated with two or three of them."

Those mistakes mostly came in the first inning when the Reds took a 3-0 lead before there was an out. Billy Hamilton singled, Zack Cozart walked, and Joey Votto and Adam Duvall followed with back-to-back doubles.

Cole retired the next three batters, two on strikeouts, but needed 29 pitches to get out of the first inning.

"We end up scoring three and putting ourselves in good position," Price said. "However, the Pirates kind of came right back and put us into a situation where we had to get into our bullpen early."

Pittsburgh closed to 3-2 in the second on John Jaso's RBI double and Chris Stewart's RBI single. Castillo came out of that inning at 58 pitches.

"In the second inning I feel that I made a lot of good pitches, but they were on my fastball," Castillo said. "They fouled off good pitches that I made. But in the third and the fourth I made adjustments, and it was better."

Scooter Gennett's RBI single in the third pushed Cincinnati's lead to 4-2.

In the sixth, Pittsburgh center fielder Andrew McCutchen leaped at the wall in center to save a homer by Gennett, but McCutchen couldn't hold onto it. Gennett wound up with a triple and scored on Eugenio Suarez's sacrifice fly.

"Almost, man. I was really close to that," McCutchen said. "I've leaped on top of that wall a countless amount of times and set my glove up and that's the first time I put some leather on it.

"I just got up a tad, split second too late. If I was up a little earlier, I probably would have had it. I probably would have caught it."

Cincinnati padded its lead to 7-2 in the eighth on Suarez's RBI base hit and a wild pitch by Dovydas Neverauskas.

The Pirates got a too-little, too-late run in the eighth on Josh Bell's RBI single.

NOTES: Cincinnati recalled RHP Ariel Hernandez from Triple-A Louisville and selected the contract of INF Zach Vincej from Triple-A Louisville. Vincej pinch-hit in the seventh inning, grounding out in his major league debut. ... Reds RHP Lisalverto Bonilla was released. ... Pittsburgh LHP Wade LeBlanc (left quadriceps strain) and RHP Joaquin Benoit (left knee inflammation) were reinstated from the 10-day DL. ... Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said RHP Ivan Nova will skip his next scheduled start, on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs. Steven Brault will start instead.