CLEVELAND — The sight of Tigers utility player Harold Castro taking the mound, once a novelty for fans, is becoming very familiar, probably too much for manager A.J. Hinch’s liking.
Hinch had warned that Hurlin’ Harold could become a habit once the Tigers were reduced by roster restrictions to a 13-man pitching staff. The idea of preserving relievers in blowout games, up or down, was going to be a factor. As the Tigers stared down a 10-0 loss to the Guardians on Saturday at Progressive Field, with a bullpen game scheduled for Sunday’s first-half finale, the only suspense left was whether Castro would pitch one inning or possibly two.
He pitched one inning, allowing an Owen Miller single in a scoreless eighth. It still continued a heavy workload for the eephus-tossing right-hander, whose pitches Saturday ranged from a 48 mph breaking ball to a 77 mph fastball.
The last time Castro pitched in a game, he was facing the Guardians but protecting an 11-3 lead in the ninth inning at Comerica Park on July 5. Both teams finished out that game with position players pitching; the Guardians used backup catcher Sandy León.
“I hate it,” Hinch said at the time. “I think you’re going to see a little bit more of this. … I think that might be the first time I’ve ever done it in my career on the positive side.”
A few weeks before that, Castro was one of three Tigers position players to pitch in a 13-0 loss to the White Sox at Comerica Park, joining fellow utilityman Kody Clemens and catcher Tucker Barnhart. That was the first time Hinch had used three position players to pitch in the same game.
Saturday was simply a blowout, and as the Tigers’ deficit grew, it was about as predictable as Mustard losing Cleveland’s hot dog mascot race. Castro was the last of five relievers after Michael Pineda allowed eight runs on nine hits over two innings, the worst outing of his Major League career. That included two home runs from Guardians All-Star José Ramírez, who got a head start on his T-Mobile Home Run Derby competition Monday at Dodger Stadium.
“He just didn’t have it from the get-go,” Hinch said of Pineda, the first Tigers starter to give up eight runs in two innings or fewer since David Price against the Yankees on Aug. 27, 2014. “It looked like from the beginning, he was battling himself. He threw some fastballs in fastball counts. He couldn’t quite land the pitches that he needed to. He had an off day against an offense that puts the ball in play.”
Said Pineda: “They saw all my pitches today pretty good. I don’t know what happened, but they saw the fastball really good, they saw my changeup. They got me today.”
The Tigers might not have needed Castro on the mound if not for Sunday. Rookie Beau Brieske was scratched from Sunday’s start in an effort to watch his innings; currently at 91 2/3 between Detroit and Triple-A Toledo. He pitched 106 2/3 innings last year in the Tigers’ system, and the team would rather not have him surpass that by too much for the sake of health.
Tyler Alexander will start Sunday. With the All-Star break coming up, likely every reliever will be available except for rookie Angel De Jesus, who tossed 1 2/3 innings after Pineda’s exit.
Castro likely won’t be available; he has never pitched on consecutive days. But that does nothing to temper his record pace. His seven pitching appearances are tied for the most among active position players with, among others, León. Former Tigers infielder Hernán Pérez has nine pitching appearances but is currently in Triple-A.
All of Castro’s pitching appearances have come in the past two seasons, including four this year. By comparison, former Major League catcher Chris Gimenez holds the record for position players pitching in the divisional era with 11 appearances, but those came over a five-year span.
The way Detroit’s season is going, Castro could make up ground fast, whether he or the Tigers like it or not.