White Sox 5, Reds 0: Castillo's One-Hitter Home Debut

August 12, 2026 - Chicago - Sal Stewart singled with one out in the first. That was the hit. Luis Castillo did not allow another one.

The Chicago White Sox beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 at Rate Field in Castillo's first home start since the August 1 trade from Seattle. Seven innings. One hit. Ten strikeouts. Two walks. First win in a White Sox uniform, and the kind of night that makes a deadline deal look obvious in hindsight.

Stewart, then nobody

Castillo began his big-league career in Cincinnati in 2017. He faced the Reds in Seattle 22 days ago and threw seven innings. Wednesday he did it again, this time in a different jersey, and the old clubhouse did not get a second look at the baseball.

After Stewart's single, Castillo retired 19 of the next 21. He struck out nine of his 10 in that stretch. He picked [Matt McLain] off first after a leadoff walk in the sixth. He fielded [TJ Friedl]'s two-out bunt in the fifth himself. Tristan Peters jumped at the wall in the third and took extra bases away from McLain. The defense was not decoration. It was the other half of a one-hitter.

Rhett Lowder almost made it a pitchers' duel. He lasted 5 1/3 innings, seven hits, two earned, and the only run that scored while he was on the mound was Drew Romo winning a 10-pitch at-bat in the third. Romo, batting near the bottom of the order, sat on a sweeper and hit it 403 feet to right. 1-0, and Lowder kept dealing.

The Reds could not cash the other side. Elly De La Cruz went 0-for-4. Eugenio Suárez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Cincinnati finished with two hits as a team. Stewart had both of them.

Meidroth in the sixth, then the eighth piled on

Julian Garcia replaced Lowder and threw one pitch that Chase Meidroth did not miss. Two-run homer to left. Colson Montgomery scored ahead of him. 3-0, and Castillo still had a shutout to protect.

The eighth made it 5-0. Montgomery walked. Peters walked. Romo singled in Montgomery. Peters scored from third on Sam Antonacci's fly to center. Antonacci finished 3-for-5 with a double and a steal and never needed a homer to be the loudest bat not named Romo or Meidroth.

Hagen Smith replaced Castillo in the eighth, walked pinch-hitter Dane Myers, then struck out the side: Tyler Stephenson, Noelvi Marte, McLain. Huascar Brazobán threw a clean ninth. Thirteen strikeouts as a staff. Zero runs. The AL Central leaders won for the third time in four games.

A debut that needed this start

Castillo's first White Sox outing, last week at Boston, was four innings and five runs. The Associated Press had him at 3-9 with a 5.32 ERA coming in. He had a 5.06 ERA in 99 2/3 innings with Seattle. Wednesday matched his longest outing of the year. It also looked like the pitcher Chicago thought it was getting when it paid for a rotation piece at the deadline.

I am not crowning a one-start turnaround. I am saying this is the version that makes the trade make sense. Ten strikeouts against a club that used to employ him is not nostalgia. It is a fastball that still plays when the command shows up.

Lowder deserved a better night. He kept Chicago to one run into the sixth and still left with the loss because Garcia's first batter went to the seats. The Reds are sliding through a two-city trip. Four losses in five games will do that. They still have a series to play Thursday. They do not have another look at Castillo in this one.

What a 5-0 night looks like when the starter is the story

Romo and Meidroth each went deep. Antonacci had three hits. Montgomery scored twice. None of that is the lede. Castillo faced 24 batters, allowed one hit, and left with a 3-0 lead that the bullpen turned into 5-0 without drama.

The White Sox did not need a crooked number. They needed seven innings of quiet, and they got it from a pitcher who had not been quiet in weeks.

AthX Engine angle

Castillo led every pitcher on Wednesday with 32 AthX Engine pitching fantasy points. That is the slate. Houser, Mahle, and Lauer had excellent nights and still sat 10 points back. The White Sox finished with 13 team fantasy points. Cincinnati finished at -6.

Track Castillo, Meidroth, and the White Sox on the marketplace. AthX Engine grades the production. Price is what traders pay next.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday wrap, ESPN box score, AP recap, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 12, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*