Injury woes continue: Whitlock on the shelf
Pitcher dealing with left oblique tightness
Garrett Whitlock is headed to the 15-day injured list with left oblique tightness after being pulled from Tuesday’s game after just 54 pitches, but Alex Cora doesn’t anticipate he’ll miss much time.
“This one it feels like it’s going to be a short stint,” Cora said.
Cora said head trainer Brandon Henry noticed the issue during Tuesday’s game and urged Whitlock be removed to avoid a potentially more serious injury. Despite Whitlock’s lengthy track record of getting hurt, Cora said they aren’t concerned about his long-term availability and made the move to play it safe.
“Actually he kind of fought it because of that, I’m like you don’t have to prove to people you can stay healthy, this is on us. We actually took it out of his hands, it’s early enough that it doesn’t make sense to push him then something worse might happen,” Cora said. “We’ll take care of him the next hopefully 15 days and he’ll be ready.”
The trip to the injured list is another bump in the road for the right-hander, who has gotten off to an outstanding start. Through his first four starts, Whitlock has posted a 1.96 ERA over 18.1 innings while demonstrating a much improved pitch arsenal, including two new pitches and a drastically improved changeup.
To fill Whitlock’s spot on the roster, the Red Sox are calling up left-hander Joe Jacques from Triple-A.
Devers good to go
After suffering yet another scare on Tuesday night, Rafael Devers once again appears to have avoided serious injury. The Red Sox slugger was back in the lineup Wednesday at designated hitter after leaving Tuesday’s loss due to knee discomfort.
“They tested him yesterday and he said he felt it on that play so they checked on him,” Cora said. “This morning he texted (Henry) and said he’s good to go.”
Devers is among numerous Red Sox players who have been banged up in recent weeks, and Cora provided a range of updates on each.
Tyler O’Neill (stitches in face) still isn’t feeling great and is unlikely to play Thursday. Cora said he’d stay inside and avoid any baseball activities pregame Wednesday, but he was spotted briefly throwing in right field.
Romy Gonzalez, who is on the 10-day IL with a left wrist sprain, took ground balls on Tuesday but had trouble hitting and is now expected to get imaging done.
“He didn’t feel great swinging the bat,” Cora said. “The defensive part he’s OK but he was a little bit stiff yesterday when he hit and they’re going to check on him.”
Nick Pivetta (right elbow flexor strain) is continuing to progress through his throwing program and could do a bullpen session sometime in the coming days. Chris Martin (left shoulder soreness) is also feeling better, with Cora saying he felt it a little bit warming up on Tuesday but that once he got on the mound he felt good.
Vaughn Grissom (left hamstring strain), Rob Refsnyder (broken toe) and Trevor Story (shoulder surgery) were all in Boston yesterday. Grissom and Refsnyder are expected to resume their rehab assignments in Worcester on Thursday and Refsnyder could potentially rejoin the big league club in the coming days.
“Feels good, it’s going to be there for a while so just playing with it,” said Refsnyder, who added that his injury is just a pain tolerance issue at this point but he feels good enough to play. “I think it takes six weeks after a break for it to be completely healed so it is what it is, but I feel good, it was nice to play in Worcester a little bit.”
Right-hander Bryan Mata, a former top pitching prospect who was placed on the IL after suffering a right hamstring strain, is also working his way through his throwing program and has begun throwing bullpen sessions. Mata is out of minor league options so when he’s ready to be activated the club will either have to add him to the big league roster or make him available to other teams.
Thursday’s starter TBD
The Red Sox have not yet announced a starter for Thursday’s series finale against Cleveland. Cora previously suggested they could go with an opener and a bullpen game, but he said the team’s plans will depend on how things play out Wednesday night.
If the Red Sox opt for a more conventional starter, then Cooper Criswell or Chase Anderson would be the logical choices.
Beyond Thursday, the Red Sox are expected to start Brayan Bello for Friday’s opener in Pittsburgh and Kutter Crawford on Saturday, with Sunday also being TBD. Boston has an off-day Monday, which would allow Tanner Houck to start next Tuesday in Cleveland on regular rest and then Bello and Crawford on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Cora said Josh Winckowski is not in consideration to join the rotation.