Wait, why did Castro bring his cell phone onto the field?

PHOENIX -- Rodolfo Castro's day began when the infielder was recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis.

At the end of the night, plenty of "call" jokes had been made at Castro's expense online. While sliding into third base in the fifth inning of Tuesday's game against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, Castro's cell phone fell out of his back pocket and onto the field of play.

It was by far the most bizarre moment of a 6-4 Pirates loss, and will safely go down as one of the strangest happenings of the season.

Castro wasn't aware his phone was on the field until third base umpire Adam Hamari pointed it out to him on the infield dirt. Castro handed it to third base coach Mike Rabelo, but by that point, the baseball world had seen his gaffe.

"I just remember getting dressed, putting my pants on, getting something to eat, using the restroom," Castro said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez afterwards, trying to explain how it happened. "Never did it ever cross my mind that I still had my cell phone on me. I went out there, put my sliding pad in my pocket, never felt my phone and just went out there and what happened happened. To be honest with you, I don’t think there’s any professional ball player that would ever even go out there with any intentions of taking a cell phone. It’s horrible that it happened to me. Obviously, it was very unintentional, I didn’t do this at all in any way or form, it’s something I didn’t even know I had on me.

"And to be completely honest with you, I feel horrible."

There was no intent by Castro to use his phone in the game, but that's still not allowed by the league because it could be a way to cheat, and it could very well lead to a league fine for the rookie. However, no in-game punishment was levied since it was clear to the umpiring crew that Castro had no intention of using his phone in-game.

"It was a young kid who made a mistake and put his phone in his pocket," Derek Shelton said. "There was no intent to use it or do anything with it."

So how does this even happen? Well, most players have a slide guard -- sometimes jokingly referred to as an "oven mitt" -- to protect their hands while sliding into bases. Many players will get the guard either from the bench or first base coach after reaching base safely. Castro always has his in his back pocket.

"I always have it in my back pocket for any game situation," Castro said. "If I’m playing, I have it there in case I make it out to the bag. Or if I’m not playing, I still have it in my back pocket in case they call me to pinch-run or pinch-hit or anything like that. It’s just something that I’m accustomed to, I always have it in my back pocket."

With the guard in his back left pocket, Castro didn't feel his phone back there as well. And after drawing a walk in the inning, Castro put the guard on and his phone was no longer being jammed into his pocket. He rounded second on an Oneil Cruz hit, and his mistake was on full display.

It's not exactly a great look for any player, especially one who had been demoted to the minors earlier this season for making what Shelton referred to as "mental errors." The last straw was on June 4, when he did not run out a pop up, resulting in the Pirates giving away a key out. He was sent down to Indianapolis the next day.

Getting another chance in the majors because of his strong minor-league performance and the Pirates' desire to get the switch-hitter back into the lineup while preparing for a stretch of lefty starters, Castro was called up Tuesday and got the start at second. He went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Talking before the game, Castro acknowledged his shortcomings in his earlier stints in the majors and expressed his desire to continue to get better and be a major-league contributor.

"I've gone through so many hard times in my life, but I've always been a believer that it's been the hard times that have molded me into who I am now," Castro said pregame. "... I think that's one of my biggest motivations, continue growing, no matter the challenges I face here, go down to the minor leagues and continue to work hard, continue learning, because it's the hard times that mould you for the better."

He now has an embarrassing challenge to overcome.

"The last thing I wanted was to be the center of attention in this form," Castro said. "Obviously, coming right back, getting called up again, my first day back, if I was to be the center of attention, I would want it to be helping the team win, but never in this form. This is definitely something that was an accident, a mistake, something I’m going to learn from. But definitely something that I didn’t mean to happen."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• The offense showed some life, but it was too little, too late. And it was mostly form one source anyway, Michael Chavis, who went deep twice late in the game and drove in three of the Pirates' four runs.

Chavis had been hitting the ball hard of late, but didn't have a lot to show for it. A couple homers helps even the score.

"There wasn't a whole lot of tweaking or tinkering," Chavis said. "I think that's one of the reasons why I came out of that rough patch without making any huge changes, because everything was good. If you're hitting the ball well, like I said, it's tough to just trust that you're going to break out eventually, but if you're hitting the ball well, obviously the results are there. So just sticking with it and trusting that eventually they're going to fall, or go over the fence in this case."

Of course, that was just one performer in the lineup. While the Pirates only struck out four times on the night, Diamondbacks starter Tommy Henry, making his second big-league start -- allowed just four hits, and one over seven innings.

"The balls that we did hit hard, it seemed like we hit hard right on the ground, right at [shortstop Geraldo] Perdomo," Shelton said. "I don't know how many assists he had, but he may have set a league record because it seemed like everything we hit hard, we hit right at him." For the record, Perdomo had seven assists on the night.

• Zach Thompson had to battle through some hip discomfort in the second inning and was checked out on the mound, but he was able to battle and give 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball. 

He has now thrown 90 1/3 innings this year, the most competitive frames he has tossed since 2017.

Duane Underwood Jr. was tagged for four runs in the seventh in what proved to be the pivotal pitching inning of the night.

• Cal Mitchell was optioned for Castro before the game, with Shelton citing that stretch of lefties as a contributing factor.

 "We got into a stretch where we thought he probably wasn't going to play as much, and because of that we thought it was better for him to go down and get everyday at-bats than to be here and not play," Shelton said.

• Mark Melancon threw a clean ninth to get the save for the Diamondbacks. He still comes out to "Thunderstruck." Hearing that, it felt like 2015 for a moment.

• In the sixth, the Diamondbacks went to a pinch-hitter instead of letting Seth Beer face lefty Eric Stout. I point out this moment not because it played a major impact in the game, but to say we were robbed of a Stout-Beer matchup. Could have been an all-time great name battle.

• Oneil Cruz entered the game with just four hits in 46 at-bats against breaking pitches. It has been the biggest hole in his offensive game thus far. Henry may not have a lot of major-league experience, but it's still a good sign to see Cruz line a couple base hits off the lefty's slider Tuesday.

"We have to take those steps forward with him, and today we saw a little bit of a step forward," Shelton said.

Cruz went 2-for-4 on the night.

• Ok, one wholesome moment from pregame. Back in spring training, Cruz told me one of the things he was most looking forward to this year was turning double plays with Castro. I asked Castro about that possibility of turning two with his "brother:"

"It feels great. Oneil's like a brother to me. He is a brother. Someone that I've been playing baseball with for a very long time, and this is something that we've been discussing and dreaming about for a very long time. I'm in agreement with him. I've been dying to be up here with him and to be able to give the fans what they want. Whether it's a double play, big hits together or whatever it is that we can all be in assistance for the team... I'm just excited."

No phone jokes allowed for that moment.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: C Tyler Heineman (right groin strain)

• 15-day injured list: RHP David Bednar (low back), LHP Dillon Peters (left elbow inflammation)

• 60-day injured list: OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Kevin Newman, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
4. Ben Gamel, RF
5. Michael Chavis, 1B
6. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
7. Oneil Cruz, DH
8. Greg Allen, LF
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Torey Lovulla's Diamondbacks:

1. Josh Rojas, 3B
2. Alek Thomas, CF
3. Ketel Marte, 2B
4. Christian Walker, 1B
5. Daulton Varsho, RF
6. Jake McCarthy, LF
7. Seth Beer, DH
8. Carson Kelly, C
9. Geraldo Perdomo, SS

THE SCHEDULE

Game three of this four game series is set for 9:40 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, where Mitch Keller (3-8, 4.21) will take on Madison Bumgarner (6-10, 3.96). I'll have you covered.

THE CONTENT

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