CINCINNATI — Luis Castillo pitched six effective innings, Tyler Stephenson homered to give the Reds a cushion they ended up needing, and Cincinnati held on to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5.
Jonathan India had three hits and Joey Votto drove in two runs for the Reds, who came in trailing first-place Milwaukee by 7.5 games in the NL Central.
Castillo allowed Jorge Polanco’s first-inning solo homer but settled in nicely from there. Stephenson went deep in the seventh to give the Reds a 6-1 lead. Then the Twins rallied with four runs in the eighth before Michael Lorenzen came in for a five-out save.