Brandon Woodruff
With one week left in the regular season and the Milwaukee Brewers having their destiny in their own hands, they dropped the series opener to the Reds 6-3 in Cincinnati on Monday night.
Luis Castillo allowed a single run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts to secure the win. It gave the Reds (28-27) their eighth victory in the last nine games as they moved a full game in front of the Brewers (26-27) for the final wildcard berth in the National League.
The Brewers scored a single run in the fifth inning when Jedd Gyorko homered to left. That gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead and it stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth when Eugenio Suarez homered to left off of Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff to make it 2-1 Cincinnati.
The Reds then scored four runs in the eighth off of rookie reliever Drew Rasmussen. Reds catcher Curt Casali hit a leadoff home run and Mike Moustakas added a three-run blast to make it 6-1.
Jace Peterson clubbed a two-out, two-run homer in the 9th to make it 6-3 Reds, but the rally ended there.
Game two of the series is Tuesday night at Great American Ballpark. Brett Anderson (3-3, 4.38) goes for the Brewers. Sonny Gray (5-3, 3.94) gets the nod for the Reds. First pitch is set for 5:40 p.m.