CINCINNATI -- Michael Lorenzen’s return to the Reds is on hold after just one game. The reliever was placed on the 10-day injured list before Monday’s series opener vs. the Mets with a right hamstring strain.

“No timetable to speak of yet. After seeing him today, it made sense to put him on the IL,” Reds manager David Bell said.

Lorenzen missed the first 90 games of the season on the IL with a right shoulder strain and made his season debut during Saturday’s 7-4 loss in 11 innings with a scoreless eighth on the mound. He remained in the game, playing right field for the ninth inning and moving to center field for the top of the 10th inning.

Tagging up from third base on Tyler Stephenson’s sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the 10th, Lorenzen felt pain in his hamstring and limped to the plate. He tossed his helmet away and immediately went to the clubhouse.

“When it first happened, I couldn’t believe it, and I was just trying to make it home and touch home plate,” Lorenzen said on Sunday afternoon. “Once I got to the training room, I thought for sure it was pretty bad. After just taking a couple seconds to sit there and allow it to cool down a little bit, just I went more to an optimistic mindset of, 'We can get through this,' and that’s kind of it.”

Bell blamed himself after the game for using Lorenzen as a two-way player before he was ready. It should be noted that Lorenzen kept up with his hitting and running while out and was 2-for-2 as a hitter at Louisville during his rehab assignment.

Lorenzen did not fault Bell for how he was used on Saturday.

“I talked to him last night and our mentalities are to be aggressive,” Lorenzen said. “Sometimes this stuff happens. I went to bed feeling just fine, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it. I just need to keep hydrating. The humidity here is different than being in Arizona and being out here. You lose a ton of fluids, and so I didn’t even have time to think about drinking water with going to the outfield and coming in, hitting third and then going back to center field and running. It didn’t even cross my mind to consume more and more fluids. That’s kind of on me.”

It was not a deep fly ball by Stephenson, but the speedy Lorenzen’s mentality was to challenge left fielder Christian Yelich to make a good throw to the plate. It turned out to be a poor throw that stopped short of the plate.

“I grew up playing baseball with Christian Yelich, playing travel ball and stuff,” Lorenzen said. “I wasn’t going to let him throw me out at home plate, and I was making sure to try and get there. It ended up working out, just not the way I had envisioned.”

Castillo’s slider was lights out
During his six scoreless innings on Saturday against the Brewers, Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo notched six of his eight strikeouts using his slider. Castillo’s slider, once his weakest pitch, was his most effective vs. Milwaukee.

According to Statcast, Castillo got 11 swings and nine whiffs from the 15 sliders he used.

“It’s definitely been working as well as I had hoped it would,” Castillo said via translator Jorge Merlos. “We’re getting a lot of strikeouts on that pitch. I’ve been working on that pitch ever since 2017, so the fact that it’s been going as well as it is now, I’m grateful for that.

“I don’t think I would use it as my go-to pitch like my changeup. But it’s a good pitch to have as a mix with my fastball and my changeup.”

Despite being the victim of a blown save for the third straight start, Castillo has engineered one of the better in-season course corrections in recent memory. Through his first 11 starts, he was 1-8 with a 7.22 ERA. Over his last nine starts, the right-hander is 2-2 with a 1.77 ERA. His overall season ERA has dropped to 4.39 as a result.

“It’s been going well,” Castillo said. “I’m really happy about the results that have been going on. I’m looking forward to seeing how well I pitch in the next couple of starts to come.”