Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro was benched by manager Dale Sveum after costing his team a run by losing track of outs in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
The Cardinals had the bases loaded with one out when Matt Carpenter popped up a ball to shallow left. Castro tracked down the popup for the second out, but he thought it was the third. He put his head down and began walking off the field, so John Jay alertly tagged up and headed home. Castro realized what was happening, so he fired home but his throw was too late. The run gave the Cards a 2-0 lead.
Sveum was obviously upset with Castro’s mental blunder, so he benched the shortstop. Donnie Murphy moved from third to short for the sixth inning, while Cody Ransom entered the game to play third.
We might have defended the 23-year-old shortstop for his mistake — you know, the sort of thing can happen to anyone — but it’s happened to Castro MULTIPLE times. Castro lost track of the outs last year, and he was benched the year before after ESPN cameras caught him not paying attention to the game.
The Cubs probably hoped that Castro would mature and grow out of this, but we’re still seeing the same thing over and over from him.
GIF via SB Nation
