Hot Bogaerts cracks DL Cold, hard facts
Ankle injury needs 10-14 days to heal
The Red Sox will be without their hottest position player for at least two weeks.
Xander Bogaerts was placed on the 10-day disabled list yesterday because of a small crack in the talus bone in his left ankle.
Bogaerts is hitting a team-high .368 with an MLB-leading seven doubles. He was injured Sunday when he took a bad relay throw from J.D. Martinez in left field and made a blind flip to third base, where there was nobody covering. The ball started rolling toward the visitors dugout, and Bogaerts slid to save it. He hurt himself when he landed on the dugout steps.
He’s expected to miss 10-14 days, the team said.
Tzu-Wei Lin, the scrappy utility player who hit .268 in 25 games for the Sox last year, was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket to take Bogaerts’ spot on the roster. Lin and Brock Holt likely will share time at shortstop until Bogaerts returns.
Holt is a natural second baseman who has handled shortstop duties in the past. He won the final roster spot ahead of Deven Marrero, a natural shortstop known for his defensive prowess. Marrero was out of options and traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the end of spring training.
“I feel comfortable at shortstop, second base, third base, pretty much anywhere,” Holt said Sunday. “It’s a tough, tough team to crack the lineup. You hate to see (Bogaerts) get injured there, especially with his spot coming up in the order in a big spot there, but I feel like I can step in and do a good job. I was happy to do it.”
The temperature for first pitch between the Red Sox and New York Yankees tonight is expected to be 40 degrees, according to The Weather Channel. This will be the third Sox game this season played in temperatures of 40 or less, and they’ve won both thus far. The Sox are 6-2 in such conditions dating to 2012, having won the past four.
Chris Sale has only started twice when the temperature is 40 or below, and he’s pitched seven innings both times, allowing three total runs.
Opposing Sale is Luis Severino, who has only made one career start in cold weather. He allowed three runs on 10 hits in five innings against the Detroit Tigers.
Sale will be on extra rest. He has a career 1.81 ERA in 25 games when pitching on extra rest.
Everyone loves winner
The Sox’ 8-1 start has produced some big-time ratings on NESN.
Ratings are up 40 percent from where they were during the first nine games last year, according to an industry source.
Tonight’s game will be on ESPN. Former Sox catcher David Ross will be in the booth with Rick Sutcliffe and play-by-play man Jon Sciambi . . ..
The PawSox are offering free admission for a three-game stretch that began last night. The other games are tonight 6:15 and tomorrow at 12:05.
Fans who already have purchased tickets for any of these games will receive a free flex ticket for a future game.
Pomeranz not ready
Left-hander Drew Pomeranz will need another rehab start before he returns to the big leagues. He’ll start for Double-A Portland on Friday.
Pomeranz suffered a forearm flexor strain March 2 in a spring training start and has been a bit behind since.
He felt good, but the results for Pawtucket were poor Sunday, when he walked six batters and allowed two hits and two runs in 41⁄3 innings.
“I was going out there working on stuff,” Pomeranz said. “Generally I don’t go out into big league games working on things, but today I’m trying to get ready for the big leagues. Like I said, I was working a little more than I generally would, so I kept missing, missing, missing. But those last couple innings I felt like I locked it in and got to where I needed to be.” . . .
Los Angeles Angels rookie Shohei Ohtani became the first two-way player to win American League Player of the Week honors. He hit .462 with three homers and seven RBI in three games as the designated hitter while also throwing seven shutout innings, allowing just one run and striking out 12 in his only start.