Orioles catcher Welington Castillo required a hospital trip Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and landed on the disabled list with a testicular injury after a pitch that hit New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius deflected down into his groin area, manager Buck Showalter said.
"Castillo spent a lot of time in the emergency room last night, postgame, with the obvious contusion, whatever you want to call it, that he had last night that everybody knows about," Showalter said before the game.
"He's got a hematoma there in his groin that we're going to monitor and see how it progresses. But we wouldn't use him tonight to catch, and now, we're trying to decide whether we're going to DL him or not. So we've got the possibilities in place, and we're going to make a decision here shortly."
With Castillo not able to catch Wednesday and Caleb Joseph starting, plus the absence of emergency catcher Ryan Flaherty (shoulder), a move to add a catcher was required.
Francisco Peña, who was up with the team for two weeks earlier this month before being designated for assignment on May 17, was added to an open spot on the 40-man roster.
Showalter said the angle of the ball into that area was what made the impact worse for Castillo, comparing it to the angle of the foul ball that caught Joseph in the groin last year and required him to sit out a month with a testicular injury.
Both injuries occurred in the ninth inning of games on May 30, one year apart.
"Most of the time, if you look at the ones that really are the problem are the angles, when you get a different angle, like the ball that Gregorius got hit by," Showalter said. "Looking back at Caleb's, it was very similar with the angle."
In Castillo, the Orioles are losing their most consistent hitter for the second time this season. Castillo missed 13 games earlier this month with shoulder tendinitis. He's batting .317/.339/.467 with four home runs, the steadiest line of any regular on the club.
Joseph, who entered Wednesday batting .253/.271/.422 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBIs, thrives with regular time, which he could get if Castillo needs to sit out. He hit .333 with an .881 OPS during Castillo's two-week absence earlier this month.
