Stewart's 2 hits bookend Reds' frustrating offensive output

CHICAGO -- Sal Stewart supplied the Reds with a hit in the first inning Wednesday night. Then he waited eight innings and supplied their next one.

In between, Cincinnati sent 26 batters to the plate without producing another.

That lonely stretch told the story of a 5-0 loss to the White Sox at Rate Field, where Luis Castillo carved through his former club for seven scoreless innings and exposed an offensive drought that one memorable rally the previous night could only temporarily conceal.

Castillo held Cincinnati to Stewart’s first-inning single, walked two and struck out a season-high 10. Stewart singled again with one out in the ninth, but by then it only broke up a long line of empty trips and gave the Reds two hits for the night.

The eighth inning Tuesday, when Cincinnati erupted for three runs to erase a three-run deficit before winning in extras, offered hope that its offense had awakened. Instead, it increasingly resembles an outlier. Remove that inning, and the Reds have scored eight runs across their past five games.

They mustered six while being swept in Washington over the weekend. Outside of their comeback inning in Tuesday’s opener, they have added two through the first two games in Chicago.

For a team still attempting to force its way back into the National League postseason picture, isolated bursts will not be enough.

On Wednesday, Castillo made sure there were no such bursts.

The former Reds ace arrived in Chicago at the Trade Deadline amid the worst season of his career, carrying a 5.06 ERA after Seattle dealt him to the White Sox. His debut brought more trouble: five earned runs in four innings against Boston.

Eugenio Suárez saw something far more familiar Wednesday. Suárez played alongside Castillo in Cincinnati and Seattle, giving him a close view of the pitcher at his best across two organizations.

“Same Castillo I remember playing with all these years,” Suárez said.

Castillo’s changeup established that immediately. He used it early, trusted it when behind, and repeatedly turned to it with three balls. Its presence made his fastball play up, leaving Cincinnati caught between two pitches it could not solve.

“That’s the Castillo we know,” Suárez said. “He threw a lot of strikes. He got his velocity back today. He made some really good pitches. He used that sinker. That changeup was back again, and it’s good for him.”

It was decidedly less good for Suárez and the Reds. But despite another futile offensive night, he rejected the idea that confidence inside Cincinnati’s clubhouse is wavering.

“We never doubt, or we never give up,” Suárez said. “We trust what we can do. Today, we’ve got to give credit to Castillo. He did a really good job.”

Castillo finished emphatically, striking out JJ Bleday, Suárez and Michael Toglia in succession during the seventh. A fading changeup left Toglia swinging to end Castillo’s night and punctuated a lousy offensive performance from Cincinnati.

“Once he put that [changeup] in, then he started using his fastball when he elevated a few times,” Francona said. “He just really pitched a good game.”

Rhett Lowder gave the Reds a chance, but received no margin for error. He allowed two runs on seven hits across 5 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking one in another solid outing. The right-hander owns a 3.22 ERA over his past four starts.

His costliest pitch came only after Drew Romo refused to let the at-bat end. Romo fouled off five offerings during a 10-pitch confrontation in the third before sending a full-count slider over the right-field wall for a solo homer.

Lowder departed after Colson Montgomery’s one-out single in the sixth. Chase Meidroth greeted Julian Garcia with a two-run homer, with the first run charged to Lowder, and Chicago added two more in the eighth.

On most nights, Lowder threw well enough to keep Cincinnati close. On this one, a two-run deficit already felt enormous.

Stewart’s two singles served as bookends. Between them sat the latest, and starkest, evidence of an offense searching for something sustainable.