Cubs’ Castro boosts hit total to 190
With all this talk about “playing the kids,” Cubs manager Mike Quade at least is playing the most important one: Starlin Castro.
The 21-year-old Castro continued to pile up impressive numbers Monday night in the Cubs’ 12-8 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ball Park.
Castro went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, a homer, a walk and 3 RBI. In doing so, Castro extended a hitting streak to a career-best 13 games.
The 3 hits upped his National League-leading total to 190. His 53 multihit games tied him for the league lead with Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki.
And Castro has been on base in 25 consecutive games.
Monday’s big night came after the Cubs played an 11-inning game Sunday night in New York, a game that started after 8 p.m. EDT and took 4 hours and 28 minutes to complete.
“It was real tough,” Castro told reporters. “You know you’re not going to sleep good. You’ve got to sleep quick.”
The Cubs piled up 16 hits and matched a season high with the 12 runs Monday.
“Coming off some rough travel and an interesting weekend in New York, it was nice to see us come out and do that,” Quade said.
One of the kids who’s not a kid is first baseman-outfielder Bryan LaHair, who did not start despite a seven-game hitting streak, in which he went 10-for-20.
The Reds started left-hander Dontrelle Willis, so Quade benched most of his left-handed hitters, including LaHair and regular first baseman Carlos Pena.
Quade went all stats-man on reporters, citing LaHair’s small sample size since his Sept. 2 call-up from Class AAA Iowa.
“I have been impressed with his at-bats to this point,” Quade told reporters. “We still have a lot of baseball to play. I’m not inclined to go nuts after watching a guy for four or five games.
“He’s getting basehits and doing things with his at-bats. His takes, his pitch counts he’s running up, he’s doing a lot of good stuff. So that’s been, to me, the most impressive thing about him to this point.
“And we’ll see if it continues. You’ve got to come out and play every day, so we’ll see what happens the next couple of weeks.”
LaHair saw 40 pitches in his 6 plate appearances Sunday as he went 3-for-4 with 4 runs scored.
But there was plenty of offense without him Monday. Jeff Baker and Aramis Ramirez (No. 25) homered for the Cubs, who took a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Cubs starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez gave it all back in spectacular fashion in the bottom of the second on a solo homer by Juan Francisco and a 2-run blast by Brandon Phillips, who hit 2 homers.
Francisco’s homer cleared the right-field bleachers, traveling an estimated 502 feet. Phillips’ first homer carried 459 feet to left.
Ramirez made some history with his homer. He joined Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams as the only Cubs with at least six seasons of at least 25 homers and 30 doubles.
bmiles@dailyherald.com