BALTIMORE -- With six Orioles already on the disabled list, Baltimore avoided losing yet another player to the DL on Friday after catcher Welington Castillo woke up feeling much better after tweaking his knee in the dugout on Thursday.
Prior to Thursday's game in Toronto, the Orioles' catcher was scratched from the lineup after slipping while he was going down the dugout steps, resulting in what the club thought was a sprained left knee.
"You know, he came out and told us in the second inning [yesterday], in uniform, that he felt like he could catch if we needed him to," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "I think it scared him more than anything. People that saw it -- I didn't see it -- said it was a pretty ugly fall. Just those spikes and those slick stairs."
The catcher said he was a nervous going to bed Thursday night in fear that his knee would be bothering him more in the morning to force a stint on the disabled list, but instead, he woke up feeling much better.
"Honestly, it scared me a lot yesterday when this happened," Castillo said. "It was feeling like when you sprain an ankle, something like that. I woke up feeling good."
After missing Thursday's game, Castillo was back behind the plate for Friday's contest against the Rays. He went 0-for-4 with a run scored in the 6-4 loss. Not only did the Orioles avoid placing a seventh player and third starting position player on the disabled list, but Castillo dodged what would have been his third trip to the DL. The catcher was placed on the 10-day DL on May 2 (retroactive to May 1) for right shoulder tendinitis and on May 31 after getting hit with a deflected pitch near his groin.
"I'm frustrated just thinking about that something off the field that simple can get you off the field," Castillo said. "I'm a gamer. I like to be in the field no matter what. I'm a catcher, I'm going to be out there in pain and sore and bruised, all that kind of stuff, and I know how to handle it. I know how to play with that."