DL trip is pain for Vazquez, Johnson
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A week before the All-Star break, the Red Sox are getting bit by the injury bug.
On Saturday night, Christian Vazquez broke his right pinky finger sliding into second base. And yesterday, three days after he woke up with a painful left hip, starter Brian Johnson joined Vazquez on the disabled list.
Joe Kelly, whose light-headedness caused him to be removed from his appearance Saturday night, was better yesterday but manager Alex Cora didn’t want to use him. Thankfully, he didn’t have to in the Sox’ 7-4 win to close out a three-game series sweep.
With return dates for Dustin Pedroia and Steven Wright, and their aching knees, an open-ended question, and one more rehab start still needed for Drew Pomeranz (left biceps tendinitis, neck), this has been an unsuccessful road trip, health-wise, for the Sox.
The team and Vazquez were not exactly sure how the catcher broke his pinky on a delayed steal of second in the seventh inning, but Vazquez blamed it on wearing a protective baserunner “oven mitt” for the first time.
“That was my first time I was wearing it — and the last time,” said Vazquez. “It got stuck when I slid.”
Vazquez said the team “made me wear it, because I jammed my thumb in Boston on a double. They made me wear it to protect the thumb.”
Cora looked at the replay of the slide and couldn’t understand it.
“I was like, ‘How did he hurt himself?’” said Cora. “(Athletic trainer) Brad (Pearson) is going to take a look at the mitt to see what really happened because it doesn’t make sense. I saw the replay and was ‘Wait a minute, he has the mitt.’ ”
Regardless of how it happened, Vazquez will be sidelined for a few weeks. He gave a wishful estimation of 2-3 weeks, but a prognosis is expected tonight after Vazquez sees a hand specialist in Boston.
Blake Swihart will catch Eduardo Rodriguez tonight against the Rangers at Fenway, but Sandy Leon will get most of the starts at catcher until at least after the All-Star break.
“Sandy’s been swinging the bat well. His last 30 games, his OPS is over .800, he’s driving the ball, he’s driving in runs and obviously what he does behind the plate — but at the same time, we’ve got to be careful,” said Cora. “The only thing is, the All-Star break is coming so we can push him a little bit more. I want him to catch David (Price) in his next one. We’ll see how it goes during the week.”
Swihart’s one and only start at catcher this season came on June 7.
“I feel pretty good, I think the more I get involved in the game and catch these guys, it’s going to be better and better each time,” said Swihart.
Arms shuffle with injuries
Johnson will miss his start tomorrow, with Hector Velazquez a strong candidate to take the hill in his place.
To replace Johnson and Vazquez on the roster, the Red Sox flew righthanders William Cuevas and Ryan Brasier in for yesterday’s game. To make room for Pawtucket’s Brasier on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox had to move reliever Austin Maddox (shoulder) to the 60-day DL.
Johnson, who started in the Nationals series, had no idea why he woke up sore here Thursday, but he said it was unrelated to him singling and then running the bases in Washington.
He stressed that the setback is a minor one and that he felt fine after throwing from 90 feet yesterday. He could come of the DL this weekend, but if he doesn’t he expects to be back right after.
In Pawtucket, Brasier has a 1.34 ERA with 13 saves in 14 opportunities, and 40 strikeouts and eight walks in 34 appearances.
“He was basically our closer for that stretch at the end (of spring training),” said Cora of Brasier, who gets his first call-up since 2013 with the Angels. “He was dominant in Triple-A. We feel like his stuff can play here . . . . It’s a good time to have him here, see what he can do.” . . .
J.D. Martinez got the day off, after fouling balls off his right foot and left calf over the weekend. Steve Pearce got the start at DH and went 2-for2 with two walks, a RBI and a run scored out of the 3-hole.
Slip-slidin’ away
With Xander Bogaerts and Pedroia getting hurt in the past with headfirst slides, and Rafael Devers making a hard landing at home plate in the Nationals series, Cora discussed the need to work harder next spring on that facet of the game.
“We’ve talked about sliding already with Raffy and Xander and now with Christian. Right when it happened, I turned around to J.D. and said ‘You know what? First thing we’re going to do in spring training next year is slide,’ ” said Cora. “He looked at me and I’m like ‘Yeah. You guys are bad.’ ” . . .
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