Sale set for visit to doc
Will meet with Andrews on elbow injury
Chris Sale doesn’t seem to be taking any chances when it comes to his new injury.
The Red Sox ace, who was put on the injured list with left elbow inflammation on Saturday, will head to Pensacola, Fla., today with Sox trainer Brad Pearson to visit with Dr. James Andrews as he tries to obtain more information.
Sale has not addressed the media on the situation since Saturday’s news. President of baseball operations Dave
Dombrowski said Saturday that the left-hander needed a couple of days to himself. Manager Alex Cora said Sale would be back Tuesday, when he should have more information on the severity of the injury and what the future holds for him.
“I actually just talked to him – he just wants to make sure he has all the facts before he talks to you guys (the media),” Cora said.” He wants to see where we’re at with it and all the opinions that he wants to get and he goes from there. It’s not that he’s hiding from you guys. He just wants to be straight up and have all the information when he talks to you guys, which I think is fair.”
Cora said there are no plans at this point for Sale to see any other doctors beyond Andrews, a renowned sports orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knee, elbow and shoulder injuries. Asked if he’s visiting with Andrews out of caution, Cora said, “That’s way over my head. … I know they’re going to Pensacola.”
Eovaldi struggles
Nathan Eovaldi was a mess in his return to the starting rotation in yesterday’s 13-7 win. He gave up five runs, three walks and threw two wild pitches in two innings. Cora was hopeful he’d throw 55-60 pitches, but he only made 43, with 23 of them strikes.
Eovaldi was making his first start since April 17. He missed more than three months with elbow issues before taking a role out of the bullpen for nearly a month, but the hard-throwing right-hander says he felt fine physically. His location was off, particularly a hanging curve in the first that
Renato Nunez belted for a three-run homer.
“I was just all over the place,” Eovaldi said. “I wasn’t able to execute my pitches when I needed to. I mean, they needed me to go out there and go a little deeper in the game and I was only able to go two innings. I felt like the quality of my pitches was OK, I mean breaking-ball wise., but I just wasn’t ahead in the count for the most part. …
“I felt a little off mechanically. I felt like I was rushing to the plate a little bit. So hopefully I’ll be able to fix that the next time around. But I’ve gotta be able to make the adjustments while I’m out there in the game.”
Rotation in limbo
The starting rotation is up in the air in light of Sale’s injury and David Price (left wrist) continuing to be out. Cora doesn’t know yet who will start Tuesday when the Phillies come to town. The only definites right now are
Rick Porcello on Wednesday and Eduardo Rodriguez on Friday. If Eovaldi responds well (physically) to his start Sunday, he’d likely start again on Saturday, so Cora will have to figure out who’s starting Tuesday and next Sunday.
Cora said they’ll make a decision going forward on Monday, which is an off day.
“We don’t know yet,” the manager said. “After the game, see where we’re at, and see the Phillies, what they got, how can we match up?”
Price threw 30 pitches, a combination of fastballs and changeups, in his bullpen on Saturday, and Cora said he’ll throw another one on Tuesday.
“We’ll wait for that one and see what’s the next step,” Cora said.
Cora didn’t rule out
Andrew Cashner returning to the rotation, but he certainly likes what he’s seen from him out of the bullpen. He threw another scoreless inning on Sunday.
“We’ll talk about it in the next 24 hours,” Cora said. “We talked about it, the stuff plays a little better. Velocity, you saw it. He defends his position. He’s able to spin the ball for strikes and he’s able to expand with the fastball. Seems like he’s in a good place right now.” …
Ryan Brasier, who was activated Saturday following a month in Triple-A, made his return yesterday and threw a scoreless fourth inning with two strikeouts.