Cleveland Guardians rookie left fielder Cooper Ingle committed a costly mental error Tuesday night, forgetting the number of outs and throwing the ball into the stands, which allowed the Texas Rangers to score the go-ahead run in a 4-2 loss.
The incident occurred in the top of the seventh inning at Progressive Field. With a runner on second and only one out, Ingle fielded a fly ball and, believing there were already two outs, tossed the ball into the stands. The Rangers' Ezequiel Duran scored on the play.
Ingle was charged with an error on the play. "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 his fourth career MLB game. He was called up from Triple-A Columbus last week.
Manager Stephen Vogt expressed support for his young player, stating, "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."
The Guardians are now 44-42 on the season and trail the White Sox by two games in the AL Central standings.