Rusney Castillo Makes Red Sox Debut: Stats, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

For the 2014 Boston Red Sox, Wednesday was a night just like any other. A rage-inducing walloping at the hands of a better, more prepared team. For the Red Sox franchise beyond this season, it hopes it was the beginning of something special.

Rusney Castillo, the Cuban defector who signed a $72.5 million contract with Boston this summer, went 1-for-4 while making his first major league start in Wednesday's 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Like his teammates, Castillo didn't do much to wow the PNC Park crowd. None of his at-bats featured roped line drives or flies that tested the outfield's range, and the Pirates hitters didn't provide much of a test in center field. Castillo's base hit, a single in the fourth inning, came on a solid ground ball to second base that Neil Walker failed to field cleanly.

While it was ruled a base hit, it's a play Walker makes seven or eight out of 10 times. Fans' opportunity to see the speedster run the bases was decidedly short-lived, as Christian Vazquez grounded out to shortstop three pitches later.

The Red Sox struggled all evening with Francisco Liriano, who gave up one run on three hits over six innings. Liriano's only jams were of his own doing; he walked five and struck out only two. Boston's lone run came on a Xander Bogaerts groundout.

The Pirates used three relievers to cover the final three innings, winning their third straight and second of this three-game set. Gregory Polanco, Walker and Ike Davis each hit home runs, as Pittsburgh drove Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz out of the game after five innings and tagged reliever Steven Wright for four more in his only inning of work. 

Bogaerts' run batted in is the only one of the series for Boston, which continued its nightmare descent to the bottom of Major League Baseball. The Red Sox are 66-86 after Wednesday night, seemingly light-years away from the team that hoisted the World Series trophy last year.

One would have a hard time blaming New Englanders for giving up on this team and focusing their attention on the Patriots or ascending Boston College.

Except Castillo's arrival offered one more reason to hope.

The 5'9", 205-pound speedster has been one of the country's best all-around players over the past few seasons, emerging as a rare combination of speed and power. While his numbers will undoubtedly go down a bit from Cuban ball to the U.S.—as is typical for anyone who comes over from a league with lower competition—all words coming out of Boston have been positive.

"He's an electric player with a lot of skills—he's explosive, quick-twitch," Red Sox manager John Farrell told reporters, via ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes. "We're looking forward to seeing him in this park."

Castillo reached an agreement that binds him to Boston through 2020 after nearly all of Major League Baseball descended on his workout earlier this summer. The deal is the richest in history for a Cuban defector. 

With hardly any time to prepare, Castillo went to the Red Sox minor league system briefly before making his debut. He hit .293 in 41 minor league at-bats, including a notable stint with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. His first home run on American soil came a day before his big league debut in Pawtucket's clash with the  Omaha Storm Chasers. 

"The 40 ABs he's gained so far are consistent with the skills he showed while playing internationally," Farrell told reporters, via Will Graves for the Miami Herald. "At the same time this is the beginning of it and we'll let it unfold."

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

The Red Sox have appropriately couched their excitement because they know Castillo's transition is a work in progress. He last played in Cuba during the 2012-13 season before defecting, a gap of 18 months without competitive baseball. Anyone who takes 18 months off from anything is going to need time to get acclimated—let alone a player who is taking a massive leap up in competition.

"To me at this point it's not about the time missed, because even though I've missed a year and half of games, I've been training everyday “ Castillo told reporters at his introductory press conference. “And that's what got me most prepared on a day-to-day basis we're going to continue that moving forward.”

Red Sox fans saw glimpses Wednesday night. Castillo's weakest at-bat of the evening was his first, when he hit a weak dribbler to the catcher for an easy groundout. His plate appearances oscillated between somewhat patient and antsy.

In the ninth, he jumped on the first pitch he'd ever seen from Jeanmar Gomez for a routine grounder to short. In the second, he watched the first three pitches he saw before hitting the aforementioned dribbler.

Baseball is not a game of small samples, and we've learned nothing about Castillo's potential star power from one night. That said, if Red Sox fans were looking for any reason to monitor this struggling team for its remaining 10 games, they may have just found it. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter