It’s the sort of moment rookies have nightmares about.
Guardians outfielder Cooper Ingle had an unfortunate moment Tuesday night in Cleveland when he forgot the number of outs and cost his team a run in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Rangers.
In the top of the seventh inning at Progressive Field, Ingle, thinking there were already two outs, made a routine play on a fly ball hit by Alejandro Osuna and tossed the ball into the stands.
The Rangers, who in actuality had a runner on second with still one more out to play, scored the go-ahead run when the ball went out of play, which allowed Ezequiel Duran to score.
Ingle went back to his position in disbelief and was charged with an error. It was a brutal mental mistake in a game his team would lose.
“Obviously, I feel terrible,” Ingle told reporters after the game. “It’s a pretty embarrassing feeling. … Yeah, honestly, when I threw the ball out, I heard a bunch of yelling. Happens sometimes, but just got to learn from it and not make the same mistake.”
The 24-year-old was making only his second major league start in the outfield and playing in his fourth game in the big leagues overall after being called up from Triple-A Columbus last week and making his debut last Friday.
He went hitless in four at-bats on Tuesday.
Ingle said he’s prioritizing moving on from the moment.
“It’s not something that makes you feel great, but things like that happen for a reason and learning from those things and moving on and getting better from them, it’s pretty much the only thing you can do,” Ingle said.
His manager, Stephen Vogt, had a similar mindset.
“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,” Vogt said.
The Guardians are 44-42 on the season, two games behind the White Sox for first place in the AL Central.
