Modern technology has allowed people to take their phones, as well as the power of the internet, with them anywhere they go. That includes a trip around the bases in an MLB game, as Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Rodolfo Castro demonstrated against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
In the top of the fourth inning, Castro drew a walk before advancing to third base on a single by teammate Oneil Cruz. As he was sliding into third base, Castro’s phone came tumbling out of his back pocket.
Castro didn’t even realize his phone was laying in the dirt, but an umpire alerted him to the situation. Neither Castro nor the phone made it to home: the Pirates’ infielder turned the device over to his third-base coach and then Greg Allen grounded out to end the inning in the next at-bat.
To make the situation even more embarrassing for Castro, he had just been called up from the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians before the game. In his postgame press conference, Castro explained through an interpreter that he mistakenly left the phone in his pocket before taking the field.
“I don’t think there’s any professional ballplayer that would ever go out there with any intentions of taking a cell phone,” Castro said, via ESPN. “It’s horrible it happened to me. Obviously, it was very unintentional.”
In the Pirates’ 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks, Castro went 0-for-3 with a walk. In 22 games with the Pirates this year, he is hitting .189 with one home run and four RBI.
