Cleveland Guardians outfielder Cooper Ingle messed up on Tuesday night.
Ingle, in the seventh inning of their 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers, caught a simple fly ball hit by Alejandro Ozuna. Then after completing the grab, Ingle went to toss the ball over the netting for fans sitting in the stands at Progressive Field. The gesture is one that players across the league do constantly, and is almost always received well between innings.
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But that was the issue. This wasn’t between innings. The Guardians only had two outs.
As there was a runner at second when Ingle threw the ball out of play, he was then granted home and given a run. That put the Rangers up 3-2 at the time. All Ingles could do was walk back to his spot in left field, looking incredibly defeated as he was charged with an error.
“Obviously, I feel terrible,” he said, via The Associated Press. “It’s a pretty embarrassing feeling.”
The Rangers scored once more in the eighth inning, thanks to a solo shot from Josh Jung. That lifted them to the two-run victory and a sixth straight win. The Rangers now sit at 44-42, and lead the AL West.
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Ingle, 24, was making just his second major league start as an outfielder. He was called up from the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus last week, and made his MLB debut on Friday.
“These things happen,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Rookie, non-rookie. It’s happened to Hall of Famers. They’ve done it. We’re going to keep learning. We’re going to keep getting better.”
Ingle had two opportunities to make up for his error. But he grounded out in the bottom of the inning, and then struck out looking for the final out of the game. The Guardians now hold a 44-42 record, and are in second in the AL Central race.
While it was undoubtedly a tough moment, Vogt insists he doesn’t have any doubts about Ingle whatsoever. The mistake was just a rare blip.
“We’re going to help him through it. That’s what we’re here for,” Vogt said. “You’re playing in your second game in the outfield in the big leagues and a mistake like that. Let’s learn. So what? It’s over. Flush it. We’re not going to be mad at him.
“We’re not going to hold it against him. He’s going to be right back out there the next time it’s his turn to play outfield. This was a mistake. This isn’t a judgment or anything like that, but we know how good of a player Coop is and we’re going to stick with him and we’re going to keep helping him.”
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