Price lands on 10-day IL
Alex Cora knew something seemed off with David Price over the last few weeks, and his suspicions were confirmed yesterday.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
The Red Sox placed Price on the 10-day injured list — retroactive to Aug. 5 — with a left wrist injury, the latest blow to their struggling starting rotation. The medical concerns seemed to be building with Price, who reported tightness in his wrist after his start last Sunday against the Yankees. The left-hander then had an MRI that revealed a TFCC cyst, which was treated with a cortisone shot.
Price had been struggling of late, posting a 10.59 ERA over his last four starts dating back to July 19. Cora noticed command issues with Price, which caused warning signs with the manager. Specifically, after talking with the team’s analytics department, it seemed his cutter was sinking instead of cutting.
“Regardless if he’s throwing 87 or 95, precision and strikes is his game, and after the last one, we talked about it,” Cora said before last night’s 3-0 victory against the Angels. “He didn’t feel 100 percent, he felt tight, so we decided to send him and get the MRI and the results were right there. It’s something I was wondering. I know you guys asked about him being healthy, but the fact that he wasn’t controlling his pitches for me was a red flag. It’s nothing elbowrelated or shoulder, whatever, but it gave me the answers for what was going on because with David, I’m going to repeat myself, regardless of the stuff, strikes is his game and he was all over the place.”
Cora didn’t know how long Price will be out. Hector Velazquez, who will be used out of the bullpen, was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to fill his spot, and Brian Johnson will start tonight in place of Price and assume that role for the foreseeable future.
“He got a shot (Wednesday) so we’ll see how long it goes,” Cora said of Price. “The hope is for him to come sooner rather than later, but we don’t have a timetable. We’ll make sure he’s OK and we’ll go from there.”
Cora didn’t seem to know the factors that led to the cyst building his wrist, but also didn’t seem to be overly concerned about the seriousness of it.
“It’s from pitching,” Price said. “I mean, repetition and honestly knowing the guy and knowing what he did last year, and how we communicate and how we go, maybe he was feeling a little bit tighter, but he felt like he can compete at this level that way. But little by little, it seems like the cyst growing, growing, growing, and it was actually limiting himself from other stuff, like the changeup and all the other pitches.
“Hey, at least we found out. Whatever people were thinking if it was the elbow or something else, at least we know and we’ll shut him down for a little bit and he’ll be back.”
Eovaldi extends
For the first time since he was moved to the bullpen, Nathan Eovaldi pitched multiple innings in Wednesday night’s game against the Royals that ultimately was suspended in the 10th inning. He threw two innings, and though he gave up the tying run in the seventh, he also struck out five.
Cora said Eovaldi felt good physically yesterday and the Sox likely weren’t going to use him in the series opener against the Angels. But the manager saw it as a good sign in Eovaldi’s progress as a reliever and how he’s able to use him moving forward.
“It was very important,” Cora said. “He’s still learning. We talked about it yesterday, the usage and all that. He didn’t execute one pitch yesterday, the 0-2 fastball, and mixing up the breaking ball is going to be very important and he knows it. Overall, it was great to see him going two innings because it helps me envision how we use guys.”
Royals return
Cora had empathy for the league in its decision to suspend Wednesday night’s game against the Royals after heavy rain forced a nearly two-hour rain delay in the 10th inning. Kansas City wasn’t scheduled to return to Boston this season, but the situation left all parties without much of a choice. The game will resume Aug. 22 at 1:05 p.m., which was a mutual off day for both teams.
“It’s hard,” Cora said. “For the league to make decisions with traveling and where teams are and mutual off days, it’s not as easy as people think. It’s one of those that we have to play that game, we have to finish that. It’s not good for them and it’s not, I guess, great for us, but that’s the only way we can actually finish the game. We’ll do it. We’re not going to complain about it. It’s just a tough one.”