Portland Sea Dogs fans will get at least one more chance to watch center fielder Rusney Castillo play at Hadlock Field.
Manager Billy McMillon said Castillo will be with the team Sunday when the Sea Dogs play Game 5 of the best-of-five Eastern League division series against the Binghamton Mets.
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If the Sea Dogs lose Sunday their season would be over, so Castillo would likely move on to Triple-A Pawtucket, which is playing for the International League championship.
If Portland wins, then the Red Sox must decide whether Castillo will stay with the Sea Dogs for the Eastern League championship series.
Castillo played six innings Saturday, going 0 for 3. He hit a check-swing grounder back to the pitcher, then flied out to shallow left field and to the warning track in right field.
On defense, Castillo ran down a deep fly ball to left-center, stretching for a backhanded catch.
SECOND BASEMAN Sean Coyle left the game after the sixth inning. He was hit on the left wrist by a Rainy Lara pitch in the fifth inning and was expected to undergo X-rays as a precaution.
“I think he’ll be fine,” McMillon said.
Coyle homered in the first two games of the series. He delivered a tie-breaking single in Friday night’s 6-3 victory, and doubled in the first inning Saturday to set up Portland’s first run.
BY SEA DOGS standards, Saturday’s crowd of 3,077 was small, the lowest ever for a playoff game at Hadlock Field. But it is still better than usual Eastern League playoff crowds.
Neither Akron nor Binghamton drew a larger crowd for their home games last week.
And 3,077 is more than the average Eastern League playoff crowd last year (2,884), which did not involve the Sea Dogs.
BEN CHERINGTON was back in Boston on Saturday after watching Castillo at Hadlock Field on Friday night. Cherington had evaluated Castillo in workouts but never in competition.
“It was good to see him in a game, and nice to be back in Portland,” said Cherington via email. Cherington used to visit Hadlock often when he was Boston’s director of player development.
As for Castillo, Cherington offered little from watching Castillo’s 2-for-3 performance.
“Looked like he had a lot of fun out there,” he wrote.
The Red Sox front office was represented Saturday by Ben Crockett, the current director of player development, Duncan Webb, the assistant director.
CASTILLO ENDEARED himself to Sea Dogs fans, staying around Friday to sign autographs and meeting fans in the parking lot after Saturday’s game.
“It’s important,” Castillo said through interpreter Laz Gutierrez, who added, “He understands the position he’s in and his role of being good to the fans.”
THE SEA DOGS finished seventh among 12 Eastern League teams in home runs but have gone on a tear in the playoffs, averaging two per game.
Coyle, David Chester and Stefan Welch each have hit two so far in this series. Keury De La Cruz and Carson Blair each have one.
Both Blair and Chester took outside pitches over the right-center field fence Saturday.
“They got pitches they could handle and put really good swings on them,” McMillon said.
Entering Game 4 of the Akron-Richmond series Saturday night, the other three playoff teams have a combined three home runs.
PAWTUCKET IS the only other Red Sox minor league team still playing. The PawSox reached the International League finals with a three-game sweep of Syracuse in the first round.
Pawtucket, directed by former Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles, will play the Durham Bulls (Rays affiliate) in a rematch of last year’s championship series, won by Durham.
Pawtucket, which won the 2012 title under manager Arnie Beyeler, will host the first two games of the best-of-five series Tuesday and Wednesday.
Advanced Class A Salem was eliminated from the Carolina League playoffs Friday, losing a best-of-three series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, 2-1.
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