Pirates lose on road to Reds, both teams behave

CINCINNATI — Clint Hurdle and David Bell had little interaction while exchanging lineup cards one day after their teams fought on the field. Luis Castillo made sure there wouldn’t be much to talk about in the game that followed.

Castillo pitched into the eighth inning Wednesday, leading Cincinnati to a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both teams were on good behavior while their front offices wrapped up trades as the deadline approached.

“He was the right guy to have out there,” Bell said. “He was able to keep it quiet. It was really good timing to have that kind of a game.”

Most of the action was away from the field.

Both teams were awaiting word from MLB about punishment from their brawl during the ninth inning of the Pirates’ 11-4 win on Tuesday night.

Bell, now-traded Yasiel Puig and two other Reds were ejected, along with four Pirates.

Hurdle said none of his players was hurt in the brawl.

Bell went after Hurdle during the fight and was restrained in a headlock by batting coach Rick Eckstein. Bell repeatedly cursed Hurdle as he left the field. A day later, the two managers didn’t say much while handing lineup cards to the umpires.

Both teams hoped to avoid a second-day repeat.

“I think it’s squashed,” said Reds reliever Amir Garrett, who charged the Pirates dugout to spark the brawl and was ejected. “There’s no hard feelings.”

Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez homered off rookie Dario Agrazal (2-2), who lasted only 3²⁄₃ innings. Agrazal hit Tucker Barnhart on the foot with a breaking ball and got Winker on the arm with a fastball, drawing boos from the crowd of 20,886. The umpires huddled after Winker was hit but didn’t eject Agrazal.

During their 19-game free fall since the All-Star break, the Pirates have led only four times after the fifth inning.

The NL Central rivals aren’t done with each other. They meet again Aug. 23 at PNC Park and wrap the season together with three games Sept. 27-29 in Pittsburgh.

The series matched teams that have faded, but only one of them already is looking to next year.

Puig went to Cleveland as part of a three-team deal for pitcher Trevor Bauer even though Cincinnati had slid to 7½ games out and trailed seven teams for the last NL wild card. The Reds also dealt starter Tanner Roark to Oakland on Wednesday for an outfield prospect and sent Scooter Gennett to the Giants for a player to be named.

The Pirates have gone 3-16 since the All-Star break, prompting them to deal starter Jordan Lyles to Milwaukee at the start of the series and Gold Glove left fielder Corey Dickerson to the Phillies on Wednesday.

“I’ve got great teammates here, had fun with these guys,” Dickerson said. “It kind of stinks to leave them, but also it’s an opportunity to play somewhere and they’re contending and just be a piece to try to help.”

The Pirates couldn’t muster much against Castillo (10-4), who recovered from his worst start of the season. The All-Star allowed a career-high six runs in a 12-2 loss to the Rockies on Friday.

Castillo gave up six hits and a run. Raisel Iglesias retired the side in the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances.

“There was no room for error with Castillo,” Hurdle said. “That may be the second-best changeup I’ve seen in a Reds uniform, Mario Soto having the best. That’s some kind of pitcher.”