Bradley’s back
Returns at full strength after DL stint
TORONTO — Jackie
Bradley Jr. will return to the Red Sox today just in time for a three-game series against the division rival Baltimore Orioles.
Bradley finished his rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket by going 1-for-5 with a homer and two walks with two strikeouts over two games.
He injured his right knee rounding first base 12 days ago and was placed on the 10-day disabled list.
“Getting back to full strength is a positive,” manager John Farrell said of Bradley’s return. “And we’re not back there yet given David Price’s situation
and Tyler Thornburg’s situation. But I like the way we’ve gone out and shown a lot of resilience in a number of these games with coming back.”
Andrew Benintendi (.317 average, .826 OPS), who has performed well in center field in Bradley’s absence, will slide back to left field while Chris Young (.240 average, .601 OPS), who has been playing against righties and lefties, will be back on the bench for most games.
“He will filter through and be in a similar role that he was when he signed here,” Farrell said, implying that Young will only play against lefties. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to take at-bats away from him. Obviously Jackie coming back and having that alignment against right-handed pitching is likely going to be a better matchup for us. But Chris has done an outstanding job in the role that he has here and he’ll continue to be a valuable guy on this team.”
Ideally, the Sox would get Young in the lineup as the designated hitter against lefties while moving Hanley
Ramirez to first base and putting Mitch Moreland on the bench. But Hanley has yet to play any first base this season.
Farrell said Ramirez has not been resistant to playing first base, though he hinted to reporters in Boston last week that he prefers to DH.
Getting Ramirez at first base with Young at DH against lefties is “still is an alignment I would like us to achieve,” Farrell said. “We’re getting to the point with Jackie coming back, getting to full strength, that this is going to be more of the intent than it’s been because quite honestly we haven’t had the pressing need with the injuries we’ve dealt and guys being sick.”
Sore spot
After Price spent his morning playing long toss in the Rogers Centre outfield, Farrell admitted the left-hander has experienced soreness in his recovery from an elbow strain.
When a pitcher hasn’t thrown for more than a month, then throws a couple intense bullpen sessions, soreness is probably to be expected.
But the acceleration, then deceleration of Price’s progression, and Farrell’s differing comments on how his arm has felt during it, indicates this hasn’t been a simple recovery thus far.
While it seemed like Price was speeding up last week when he threw his third bullpen session and the Red Sox were planning to test him against live hitters shortly afterward, they quickly changed directions after arriving here on Tuesday.
Instead of throwing on the mound against live hitters, Price restarted his long toss program, first from 90 feet, then gradually farther as the week progressed.
It’s unclear when Price first felt sore. On Tuesday, Farrell was asked if Price felt any pain and simply said, “No.”
Yesterday, Farrell said Price experienced soreness somewhere along the line.
“You get a little soreness coming out of the intensity in which he was throwing the ball,” Farrell said. “We gave it a couple of extra days before we extended back out into some long toss. He had a good work day here yesterday with some pretty aggressive flatground work.”
Price said last Saturday that he didn’t want to push himself too fast. Perhaps the soreness was a sign that he should slow down.
“I don’t think it was too fast,” Farrell said. “It was the highest volume and intensity of work relative to the previous weeks that he’s been going through rehab. Maybe a little bit of a slowdown but certainly not a setback and back on the mound tomorrow.
He’s still scheduled to throw a bullpen session tomorrow in Baltimore. It’ll be his fourth bullpen session in the last two weeks.
It would seem unlikely that Price could return before June, given that he still needs to build up enough strength and confidence to face live hitters, then eventually begin a rehab assignment. The Red Sox still aren’t putting a timetable on it.
Streak snapped
Craig Kimbrel’s save streak is over, having ended yesterday in the Red Sox’ 4-1 win over the Blue Jays in 10 innings.
Kimbrel allowed a homer to Kendrys Morales to blow the save, snapping a streak of 25 straight conversions since last June. It was the second-longest streak in the majors next to Baltimore closer Zach Britton’s streak of 54. He has now struck out 12 of the last 16 batters he’s faced. . . .
Xander Bogaerts injured his left thumb diving back to the bag late in the game and had images taken afterward. He said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play today. Farrell said the team will re-evaluate him further today. . . . Brandon Workman has 10 strikeouts in seven innings at Pawtucket, having allowed only one walk and one hit. On his way back from Tommy John surgery, he is a candidate to return to the Red Sox bullpen next time there is a need, Farrell said. . . .
Former Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada homered off PawSox lefty Henry Owens yesterday in his first at-bat for Charlotte, the White Sox Triple-A affiliate. Moncada entered the game with three homers and an .882 OPS in 12 games this season.