BOSTON — Rusney Castillo had a brain fart. It happens.
Castillo forgot how many outs there were in the seventh inning of Wednesday night’s game against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park. The Red Sox outfielder caught the second out of the frame but thought it was the third out and tossed the baseball into the stands, allowing a runner on first base to advance two bases. The incident since has been addressed by acting Red Sox manager Torey Lovullo.
“It is unfortunate that we’ve had a couple of hiccups. They’re documented. We know who they are and what’s happened,” Lovullo said before Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Royals of the club’s mental lapses this season. “To answer your question, yes I wasn’t too thrilled about it. I had a chance to talk to Rusney. We’ve taken care of that.
“We sat down with all of our outfielders. That’s a team of three guys out there every night and they’re all held responsible. So we’ve addressed that, talked to Rusney and hopefully we’re going to move off of that as quickly as possible. It’s not something that we’re about here in Boston.”
Castillo wasn’t in the Red Sox’s starting lineup Thursday night despite Boston facing a left-hander in Danny Duffy. However, Lovullo said the decision to sit Castillo and roll with an outfield comprised of Hanley Ramirez, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. had nothing to do with Wednesday’s incident.
“Not at all. You’ll be able to see that there’s obviously a little bit of a rotation with these (outfielders),” Lovullo said. “I haven’t quite figured out anything beyond the next couple of days, but they’re all going to play.
“I’ve been saying it for the past couple of days, we’re a team of 25 guys and everybody’s got to contribute on some level. In this case, Rusney was going to get a day off no matter what he did (Wednesday).”
Castillo, who signed a seven-year, $72.5 million contract last August, still is adjusting to baseball — and life, for that matter — in the United States. The Cuban outfielder has made significant strides of late, though, and Lovullo is confident that Wednesday’s mishap will be an isolated incident.
“We all know what his track record was prior to coming here. We know that he didn’t have a chance to play a lot of organized baseball,” Lovullo said. “We knew that it was going to take a little bit of time for him. But that time frame is upon us, and each and every day we’re watching him go out there and improve.”
Castillo messed up. The important thing is it doesn’t happen again, as the Red Sox have had far too many mental miscues this season, especially with regard to the number of outs within a given inning.
