Bogaerts kicks off boot
Recovery starts for shortstop
Two days after hurting his ankle, Xander Bogaerts already is out of a walking boot.
Bogaerts, who suffered a small fracture in the talus bone of his left ankle and was placed on the 10-day disabled list before the Red Sox’ series with the New York Yankees, said yesterday he already is feeling substantially better than he did after sustaining the injury.
“I needed a boot my first few days, my first day especially,” Bogaerts said. “Walking back to my place was really tough. I couldn’t do it on my own. But today I could pretty much walk around, not pain-free. It’s all dependent on the weight that I walk. That’s when I get the most pain.
“It’s getting better in these couple of days that passed, so that’s obviously a huge plus.”
Bogaerts is expected to miss 10-14 days.
He said he’s still unsure how exactly he hurt himself. He assumed it must be from the impact of his foot on the concrete steps of the visitors dugout on Sunday when he slid trying to save a ball from going out of play.
“I don’t think I remember feeling anything once I got up from the dugout,” he said. “Adrenaline just going after that ball, that probably had something to do with it. But stepping onto the field, probably my second step, I think, I started feeling it. And then I stepped again and felt it a little more, and then I walked in and said, ‘Hey, I don’t think I can go much more.’ ”
Bogaerts said he thought third baseman Rafael Devers would be covering the base when he did a no-look flip to third after a bad relay throw from J.D. Martinez in left field. But Devers went to back up the bad throw and was waiting behind Bogaerts instead.
“It’s just one of those things that was kind of weird,” Bogaerts said. “Hopefully I don’t get too much time off. I’m very optimistic everything’s going to be the same.”
Not short on ‘D’
Brock Holt started at shortstop in place of Bogaerts for last night’s game and hit in the No. 9 spot.
Tzu-Wei Lin was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket to take Bogaerts’ place on the roster and will get some starts at shortstop, manager Alex Cora said. Eduardo Nunez could also be in the mix.
“They’re going to play good defense, and we’ll take that on a daily basis, who’s going to play short,” Cora said. “Brock is playing today. We know he can put good at-bats. You saw the play he made to end the game on Sunday. As a group, with the information that’s been provided, we’re putting guys in spots where they’re going to make plays, and they will make plays.
“Obviously Xander is an elite shortstop, I understand that. When he comes back, he comes back. I’m not going to rush him. I’m not going to push him to come sooner rather than later. Hopefully he recovers and he’s back sooner rather than later, but we’ve got to move on. We’ve got to keep playing. We’ve got a good team, and we’re deep enough that for the period of time that he’s going to be away, we’re going to be comfortable with whoever’s playing short.”
Lin hit .268 with a .709 OPS in 25 games with the Red Sox last year. Cora said he’s probably the best shortstop on the active roster, and the skipper would consider using Lin as a defensive replacement late in games.
“Depending on where we are at, the score,” Cora said. “That is something like I told you guys, I think he could play shortstop defensively for a championship-caliber team, at third, at short and at second. He’s that good.
“Offensively he still needs to understand that there’s other stuff he can do to be a better offensive player — bunting, hitting the ball the other way, but defensively he was A-plus. He was great. At shortstop, his foot work, his tempo, it was fun to watch.”
Full speed ahead
Tyler Thornburg won’t single-handedly save the Sox’ questionable bullpen, but if he keeps throwing 95 mph, he should be able to help.
Thornburg is recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and remains a mystery as to how he’ll perform and when he’ll be ready to contribute. The Sox were encouraged when he hit 95 mph on the radar gun Monday during a minor league game at the complex in Fort Myers.
“That’s a good sign,” Cora said. “He’s still in his progression. Still, the changeup is not there yet, offspeed pitches, but to see his velocity get there, that’s a good sign. He’ll be in Fort Myers just with an extended program still throwing his games, and then we’ll make a decision at the end of the week.”
Hector Velazquez and Brian Johnson are still in the bullpen, but one of them will be held back to get the start on Saturday. The Sox are keeping Drew Pomeranz in the minors for one more start as he rehabs back from a forearm flexor strain.
“We’ll see how it goes the next few days, see who we use and who we don’t use and go from there,” Cora said. “We’ll probably have to make a decision, especially for that Saturday game for who we’re going to start. They’re very right-handed, the Yankees. Same with Baltimore. It’s going to be one of those that (Wednesday) we’ll make a decision who is going to start there, and we’ll go from there.”