There were no late-game heroics by the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday, Aug. 12.
There were no heroics at all.
Newly-acquired Chicago White Sox pitcher Luis Castillo displayed that he is a great pitcher when he remembers it.
He remembered it Wednesday and turned the Reds bats into useless pieces of wood with seven shutout innings, allowing one hit with 10 strikeouts.
He struck out the last four hitters he faced, straightening out any question marks the White Sox had about him into exclamation points.
For the game, a 5-0 whitewash job, the Reds’ offense consisted of two singles, both by Sal Stewart, and two walks.
It was Castillo’s first home start at Rate Field since the White Sox acquired him from the Seattle Mariners at the trade deadline.
And there was no hint of what was coming from Castillo based on his recent performances.
He entered the game 3-9 with a 5.32 earned run average. In his previous three starts, he pitched 16 innings and gave up 13 runs and 21 hits with 10 strikeouts — a 7.31 earned run average.
One of those three games was a loss to the Reds when he pitched for Seattle, three runs and four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
When he pitched for the Reds, his original team, his change-up was a pitch that had a mind of its own. . .nearly unhittable.
For some reason, he hasn’t been using it much but he brought it back out of his duffel bag and baffled the Reds with a slew of gotcha moments.
He pitched as if he had places to go, people to see as he set the stage for the Reds being shut out for the 11th time this season.
“I thought he established things right from the very first hitter of the game (Elly De La Cruz, strikeout),” Reds manager Tito Francona told reporters.
“The change-up that he was going to use. . .he used it early, he used it late, he used it 3-and-2 multi-times,” he added. “With the crispness of his fastball, that really gave us a tough time.”
Francona was asked about the sudden re-emergence of Castillo’s change-up and he said, “He’s been doing it a long time and he’s an intelligent pitcher. Once he put that (change-up) in he started using his fastball, elevated it a few times, he really pitched a good game.”
Stewart singled with one out in the first inning and Hector Rodriguez walked with one out in the second.
Castillo retired the next 11 in a row. He walked Matt McLain leading off the sixth, then picked him off first base and retired the next six.
McLain nearly homered leading off the third but left fielder Tristan Peters sprung high enough against the wall to snag it.
Cincinnati’s second hit, another Stewart single, came off relief pitcher Huascar Brazoban in th ninth inning.
Castillo’s opponent, Rhett Lowder, was more than passable. Despite giving up seven hits during his 5 ⅓ innings, he held the White Sox to one run.
Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Julian Garcia looks down after Chicago White Sox’s Chase Meidroth hit a two-run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026.
Nam Y. Huh – AP
His one mistake came in the third inning, a 10-pitch battle with number nine hitter Drew Romo, batting .126. On the 10th pitch, a sweeper, Romo swept it 403 feet into the right field seats.
The White Sox loaded the bases in the fifth inning with two outs and Lowder struck out Cincinnati native Andrew Benintendi to keep it at 1-0.
The Reds had won all three of Lowder’s previous three starts and he was good enough to win Wednesday with any kind of offensive support.
“He was very good,” Francona told reporters. “He had that 14-pitch (actually 10) at-bat before the home run. But I thought he pitched very well.”
It was still 1-0 when Lowder gave up a one-out single in the sixth to Colson Montgomery, his 94th pitch.
Francona called Julian Garcia in from the bullpen to face Chase Meidroth and he drilled a two-run home run to make it 3-0.
On Tuesday night, the Reds trailed the White Sox, 4-1, entering the eighth inning. They tied it in the eighth and won it in the 10th, 5-4.
Not this time.
Hagen Smith replaced Castillo in the eighth and walked pinch-hitter Dane Myers. Then he imitated Castillo by striking out the side — pinch-hitter Tyler Stephenson, pinch-hitter Noelvi Marte and Matt McLain.
The Reds struck out 13 times.
Any hope for another miraculous retrieval of this game evaporated in the eighth when Reds relief pitcher Ron Marinaccio gave up two runs.
It was ugly. Two four-pitch walks, a run-scoring single by Romo and a wild pitch that scored a run.
The Reds are 16-28 in blowout games decided by five or more runs.