Castillo shuts down Dodgers in series opener

CINCINNATI — This is why the Dodgers don’t want to get into a Wild Card game. No matter how good their season has been, there is always the possibility that in a one-game playoff, they’ll run into a good pitcher who’s got his stuff working on that particular night. On this night at the Great American Ballpark, it was Luis Castillo who was that pitcher. The righty master of the cambio was on his A-game in Cincy on Friday night, striking out eleven and sending the Dodgers to a 3-1 defeat in the first game of this weekend set.

After Betts double, Castillo is lights out

Luis Castillo is an interesting case. When he first came up, it looked like he might end up being one of the game’s truly elite pitchers. However, it never really came to pass, and in 2021 he has an MLB-leading 15 losses and an ERA up over 4.00.

Mookie Betts hit a double on the third pitch of the game, but really that was the only ray of hope in the entire evening. Castillo struck out the next two Dodgers and got a Justin Turner ground ball to end the inning, and the threat was eliminated. It was the start of a trend for the Dodgers. On the night, they only got one hit with Runners in Scoring Position, and that didn’t come until the ninth inning.

Buehler good, but gives up one too many hits

You can put it in your scorecards. Tonight was the night Walker Buehler fell out of Cy Young contention. It wasn’t that he was bad. He was fine, only giving up three hits in six innings of work. Unfortunately for Buehler, he just couldn’t get that clutch out when he needed it. He gave up a leadoff double to ex-Dodger Kyle Farmer in the bottom of the fifth and Farmer came home on a Tucker Barnhardt single a few pitches later to break the scoreless tie.

Then, in the sixth, it was Farmer again plaguing his former employers. He got a clutch two-out single with two men aboard that scored them both. Buehler was one out away from escaping the inning unscathed. Instead, he gets his fourth loss of the season. And once again, he got very little run support. His ERA after this one rises to 2.39. Again, not bad. But not the big-game, step-up performance that were used to seeing from Walker.

Dodgers get one in ninth

The Dodgers avoided a shutout at the last possible moment in this one, scoring a cheap run in the top of the ninth before the final out of the game. With one out, Will Smith was plunked by a pitch from reliever Michael Lorenzen and advanced to second on a groundball out from Cody Bellinger. Smith came around to score when Matt Beaty sneaked a groundball through the infield to make the score 3-1. But pinch hitter Albert Pujols was unable to extend the inning, and the game ended when centerfielder DeLino DeShields squeezed a liner off Pujols’s bat.

Bad start to road trip

When you’re running short of games on the calendar, every one counts. Starting the road trip with this flat performance doesn’t do much to instill confidence. The Dodgers just need to show up these last two weeks and hope for the best. Max Scherzer tries to get the Dodgers back in the win column on Saturday. It’s a 11:00 am local time start, so get that brunch ready in front of the TV.