MLB Game Preview - Cincinnati at Miami

Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:10 PM EDT

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Luis Castillo, traded twice by the Miami Marlins, will face his former team on Tuesday night.

It will be the second game of a series that began on Monday night with a 6-3 Reds win, snapping Cincinnati's three-game losing streak.

Castillo (12-5, 3.04 ERA), who made the All-Star Game for the first time this year, will be opposed by Marlins left-hander Caleb Smith (8-7, 3.82 ERA).

How Castillo got to Cincinnati is a strange case. With the Miami minor league organization in 2016, Castillo flashed an upper-90s-mph fastball and went 8-6 with a 2.26 ERA in high Class-A and Double-A.

Even so, the Marlins -- seemingly unimpressed -- traded Castillo to the San Diego Padres on July 29, 2016. When the Castillo portion of that trade fell through, he returned to Miami's organization.

Less than six months later, on Jan. 19, 2017, the Marlins dumped Castillo and two other prospects for veteran pitcher Dan Straily, who is no longer with the team.

Castillo, who was Cincinnati's Opening Day starter this year, has made the Marlins pay for their mistake in many ways. Not only is he the Reds' ace and an All-Star, but he is also 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA in three career starts against Miami. At Marlins Park, he is 1-0 with a 0.55 ERA in two starts.

"Even when he's not at his best," Reds manager David Bell said, "he's still very, very good."

A 26-year-old Dominican Republic native, Castillo has three double-figure strikeout games in 26 starts this year. He has 17 quality starts this season, including a 14-0 win at Marlins Park on April 9 during which he lasted seven innings, allowed two hits and one walk and struck out eight.

Castillo's ascent as a star began in the second half of the 2018 season, when his 2.44 ERA ranked ninth in the majors (minimum 60 innings). His changeup has emerged as possibly the best in the majors.

Meanwhile, Smith, a 28-year-old former New York Yankee, has put up mediocre numbers since making his major league debut in 2017. His career numbers are 13-14 with a 4.30 ERA.

Smith is an effective strikeout pitcher -- his per-nine-innings rate of 10.6 so far this season would be a career high if it holds. But Smith's home run rate has increased from 1.2 per nine innings last year to 1.8 this season.

In a career-high 21 starts this year, he has allowed a career-high 23 homers, including 19 against right-handed batters.

And, after a 4-0 July record that included a 3.48 ERA, Smith has gone 1-3 with a 5.66 ERA in four August starts.

But the good news for Smith is that he is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his only career appearance against the Reds. That outing happened on May 5, 2018, when he allowed just three hits, one walk and no runs in 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven.

Another positive for Smith has been his performance this year at Marlins Park, where he is 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA.

His last quality start came on July 23, when he allowed just two hits, two walks and one run in seven innings against the Chicago White Sox, striking out nine.

"It seemed as the game went on," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, "he got sharper and sharper."

Smith will have to be sharp to slow down a Reds lineup that includes Eugenio Suarez's 36 homers and Freddy Galvis' 22 blasts. Both Suarez and Galvis homered against Miami on Monday.

--Field Level Media