CINCINNATI – The Reds did not exactly plan to have Jeff Hoffman and José De León in their 2021 rotation. It became necessary when Sonny Gray and Michael Lorenzen opened the regular season on the injured list.
Like Hoffman on Sunday, De León took full advantage of the opportunity to step up against Pirates on Monday. Without a decision, he eliminated nine out of more than five entries before the Reds scored a 5-3 victory at the Great American Ball Park. Once again, Nick Castellanos made a great home run that drew 2-2 at the end of the seventh inning, helping Cincinnati to win for the third time in their first four games.
“We are going to have to catch up,” said Reds coach David Bell. “We talked about having the initial pitching depth and we are lucky to have that, but for these guys to pass, intervene and be an important part of a successful pitching team, it helps us keep going.”
In his first start since 2016 with the Dodgers, De León started the night in a sinister way. His 2-2 move with an out in the first inning failed in the strike zone, and Phillip Evans smashed for a 445-foot solo home run to the center left field. Catcher Tucker Barnhart can be seen wincing when the ball came out of Evans’ bat. Two hitters later with two outs, Colin Moran hit a first-shot slider for a 374-foot home run to the right field that made the game 2-0.
Nothing De León did after that made anyone shudder – except perhaps Pirates hitters, who scored just one more blow against him. With a sinking average of 94 mph, De León hit the first two hitters in the second round.
“I was able to settle in after those two solo shots. Solo shots are not going to kill you, “said De León.” I was just leaving with a different advantage in the second inning, and I was more aggressive. I took it personally. “
De León, who hasn’t played since 2019 with the Rays, also had a chance. Running from first base, Nick Senzel defeated a field player chosen by Jonathan India. Two hitters later, with two eliminations, De León hit a single goal from the right side to score Senzel for his first strike in the big league and RBI.
In the third round, after a first move by pitcher JT Brubaker and a mistake by shortstop Eugenio Suárez when he failed to switch to a double game, De León hit the sideline – all with sinkers at 94 or 95 mph – including the two hitters they burned for homers before, Evans and Moran.
In the fourth entry, De León pulled the team out in five shots. At this point, he was still a little tired of running the bases in the second round.
“I had to try to calm down. It was at that entrance that I felt a click,” said De León. “I was spending my time on the mound between pitches, taking a deep breath. It was something that I think helped me by being a little tired in that inning.”
De León hit the sideline again in the fifth inning, which included a two-leg walk. Bell lifted the right hand after an initial walk to open the top of the sixth entry.
On Sunday, Hoffman won the 12-1 victory over the Cardinals with five strong baseball entries from one race. He was still the record-thrower at the bottom of fifth place, when Castellanos smashed a three-run home run to break a 1-1 draw.
“This is the kind of start that we need from him and all of our starters,” said Mike Moustakas, who tied the game in 2 with a two-game solo home run to the right field in the fifth inning. “Especially when we are not scheduling races and they are able to do that, it takes the pressure off us.”
The races stopped being more difficult to happen when Castellanos made his fourth appearance on the night board with one eliminated on the seventh entry. Two more races scheduled in the eighth.
Against Pittsburgh leftist appeaser Sam Howard, Castellanos recognized a good 3-1 slider after attempting a full count. Howard followed with a 94 mph fastball, and Castellanos was everywhere with a 431 foot move to the left field that left his bat at 108.9 mph. He twirled his staff and walked around the bases, ending his day better than he started.
Earlier in the day, the MLB granted Castellanos a two-game suspension for his part in a bank clearing incident on Saturday against St. Louis. He is allowed to play pending his appeal.
“Obviously, he is carrying us to start this season,” said Moustakas. “Your energy is electrical.”