Castro loses phone in Pirates' 6-4 loss to Diamondbacks

PHOENIX (AP) — Rodolfo Castro got the call-up and dropped a call-up on his return to the major leagues.

The Pittsburgh infielder lost his phone during a slide into third base and the Pirates lost 6-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday-evening.

“I don’t think there is a professional ball player who would ever go out with the intention of taking a cell phone,” Castro told Pittsburgh media through an interpreter. “It’s terrible that this happened to me. It was clearly very unintentional.”

Rookie Tommy Henry (1-1) was sharp in his Chase Field-debut, giving up a run on four hits in seven innings for his first big league win.

Castro made a different kind of noise after he got a call from Triple-A Indianapolis – on his phone.

The sophomore second baseman walked in the fourth inning and moved to third base on Oneil Cruz’ single. Castro slid his head into the bag to beat the throw and the impact flew his phone out of his back pocket.

Third base umpire Adam Hamari immediately spotted the phone and pointed to it on the ground. The 23-year old Castro picked up the phone and handed it to Pirates third base coach Mike Rebelo, who had an annoyed look on his face before answering the phone.

Castro said he put his oven mitt-like glove in his pocket and forgot the phone.

“You stay close to the game and you see things you haven’t seen before,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “This was just a guy who made a mistake. It’s just one of those things we go for and tell him, ‘You can’t do that.’”

Major League Baseball has been cracking down on the technology used on the field since the Houston Astros used live TV feeds to steal opponents’ boards during their run to the 2017 World Series championship and part of the 2018 season.

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season. The Astros were also fined $5 million and forfeited their first and second round picks in 2020 and 2021.

Castro may want to keep his phone handy on Wednesday in case MLB decides to impose a fine.

“If I was back in the spotlight on my first day, I wish it would help the team win, but never in this form,” said Castro. “This is definitely something that was an accident, a mistake, something I’m going to learn from. But I definitely didn’t mean for it to happen.”

Mark Melancon worked around a walk in the ninth for his 16th save. Zach Thompson (3-9) took the loss.

Michael Chavis hit two home runs for the Pirates.

HENRY’S NIGHT

Henry had an uneven big league-debut against Washington on August 3, giving up four on four hits in five innings.

The rookie lefthander was efficient in his first home game in the Dutch big league, holding the Pirates off balance until Chavis hit a solo homerun in the sixth inning.

“I felt very different,” he said. “I felt like I could breathe a little bit today and relax a little bit. And I think that’s because of being more familiar with everyone, familiar with the routine.

Chavis also hit a two-run homer off Chris Devenski in the eighth inning to bring Pittsburgh to 6-4.

THOMPSON’S TURN

Thompson was shaky in his previous two starts, giving up 14 runs in 11 innings. The righthander was back on track against the Diamondbacks, giving up two runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

DIAMONDBACKS MOVES

Arizona recalled OR Cooper Hummel and chose C Jose Herrera to Triple-A Reno.

Hummel, who mostly played outfield in his first stint with Arizona, will support catcher Carson Kelly. Hummel hit .171 with two homeruns and 11 RBI’s in 50 games with the Diamondbacks earlier in his rookie season.

Herrera hit .189 with five RBI’s in 47 games with the Diamondbacks.

PIRATES MOVES

The Pirates chose OR Cal Mitchell to Triple-A Indianapolis when they called up Castro. Mitchell hit .204 with four home runs in 44 games with Pittsburgh.

NEXT ONE

Diamondbacks LHP Madison Bumgarner (6-10, 3.96 ERA) is 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA on his last six home starts en route to Wednesday’s game against Pittsburgh RHP Mitch Keller (3-8, 4.21).

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