Pedey sent home for more rehab
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
There’s no sense in sticking around, so Dustin Pedroia is being sent home.
The Red Sox second baseman has been with the team for most of the summer while trying to rehab his balky left knee, but given that his brief return from the disabled list lasted only three games and he’s been unable to gain any momentum in his recovery since, it’s time for a change.
Pedroia will fly home to Arizona to be with his family and continue rehab with the physical therapist who helped him during the offseason, manager Alex Cora announced yesterday.
“We’d love him to be around here, but I think for now, it’s better off for him to go there and disconnect a little bit from all this and just concentrate on himself,” Cora said. “There are going to be a few adjustments on the rehab, a focus on hammy and core and glutes, so I think that’s the best thing we can do right now.”
Last week, Pedroia met with Dr. Riley Williams, who performed the knee surgery last October, and they formulated a new plan focused on strengthening other muscles in his body.
“He’s learned good things about it,” Cora said. “It’s nothing structural. I mentioned it yesterday it’s about making adjustments around the knee and body-wise that are going to help him or help the knee not to get upset.
“And he’s done his research. When we sit down he drops names like huge athletes like Kobe (Bryant) and (Rafael) Nadal and I’m like ‘wow, he’s doing his research.’ Obviously he cares and he wants to contribute so I think he’s in a good place now.”
While it’s clear Pedroia won’t be returning to the Red Sox soon, the manager still believes the 34-year-old will play at some point this year.
“I do,” Cora said. “Personal opinion. I think the most important thing is for him to be healthy. This is not about just contributing this year. This is about him playing for us the rest of his career. That’s the most important thing.”
One reason it’s been such a confusing recovery process is that Pedroia is the first position player to go through this particular knee surgery.
“It’s a unique situation because this type of surgery has never happened to a baseball player,” Cora said. “I think we learned through the process, Pedey learned through the process, and the doctor also learned through the process.”
Sale not half bad
Chris Sale enters tonight’s start needing 14 strikeouts to tie the major league record for most strikeouts in the first half of a season.
Sale has 176 strikeouts, just shy of the 178 he collected in the first half last year. Only six pitchers have ever eclipsed the 180-strikeout mark before the AllStar break, and none since Curt Schilling in 2002.
Bob Feller set the record with 190 strikeouts in the first half in 1946.
“He’s reminding me a lot of Randy Johnson when he was dominant,” Cora said of Sale. “I saw Randy when he played with my brother in 1995 when they came back. That was amazing to see. It’s kind of like effortless right now. You look up and it’s like oh, he struck out 12 and there’s only one walk. He’s throwing 99 (mph) and it’s not a grind. It’s not a grind right now. Physically he’s in a great spot. Mechanic-wise I think he’s right where he wants to be and he’s dominating.” . . .
Cora said he hasn’t mapped out who will start the first game out of the break next Friday.
“It’s tough, we’ve got three lefties and we just have to make sure which is the best combination,” Cora said. “We thought about putting Rick Porcello in between. We’ll see. Because Eduardo Rodriguez and David Price are similar, almost the same thing. Chris is different because he’s fastball, slider, changeup and the other guys are fastball, cutters, changeups. We’ll sit down and we’ll talk about it and see how the schedule goes.”
Johnson hip to return
Brian Johnson could return from a hip injury in time to start the final game of the first half on Sunday, Cora said.
The Sox are struggling to find healthy starters right now with Johnson, Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright on the disabled list. Hector Velazquez started last night for the first time since April 14, and went three innings, allowing one run in the Sox’ 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers.
Jalen Beeks (3.05 ERA, 12 strikeouts per nine innings) was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to replace William Cuevas and add length behind Velazquez, though he went just 21⁄3 innings while allowing three runs last night. Despite dominating in the minors, he hasn’t impressed in two outings in the big leagues (61⁄3 innings, nine runs allowed).
“That’s a tough spot again, just like his first outing here,” Cora said. “Coming out of the bullpen is not easy. But he was able to slow it down a little bit. Velocity was OK, better breaking ball this time around. It was a tough spot but he did a good job for us.”
JBJ stays on roll
Jackie Bradley Jr. had two RBI doubles and is now batting .333 with 12 RBI over his last 13 games . . . .
Andrew Benintendi is batting .367 with runners in scoring position this season. He also stole a base last night, his 17th in 19 tries, and has the best stolen base success rate in the league . . . .
Mookie Betts had two more hits and leads the majors with a .346 average . . . .
Catcher Christian Vazquez had successful surgery to get a pin placed in his fractured right pinky finger and is out 6-8 weeks.