Red Sox vs. Pirates: Rusney Castillo's second game will wait

Rusney Castillo's second game will not come Thursday, as the Red Sox elect to sit their newest outfielder in the series finale against the Pirates.

We knew Castillo wouldn't be playing every game right off the bat, but this still feels like nothing so much as that gap day after Opening Day. It makes sense if you really think about it in terms of gearing up players who haven't played competitively on a regular basis for a long while, but it's frustrating at best to the fans who have waited for so long, and made all the much worse if your team happens to be coming off a loss like Boston's 9-1 drubbing on Wednesday.

So yeah, the Red Sox aren't wrong to sit Rusney Castillo today, but I'm still left wanting to say that it's just not right.

First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.