Sale set to start rehab assignment
SAN FRANCISCO — The Red Sox see themselves as legitimate contenders who can make a playoff push, and Chris Sale is a huge piece to the club’s hopes.
Sale (shoulder) will start a rehab assignment Tuesday with Worcester, with the plan calling for him to throw three innings in Syracuse, N.Y., against the Mets’ Triple A affiliate. The lefthander is scheduled for at least one more rehab appearance before he could rejoin the big league club.
But in what role?
The Red Sox and Giants employed the opener/bullpen method twice each in their three-game series that concluded with San Francisco’s 4-3 win Sunday in 11 innings. Both teams went with an opener Sunday. While the Sox have done so because of injured starters, the Giants have done it because their starters have underperformed. The strategy helps a pitcher who usually starts, or the bulk guy, avoid the top of the order more than twice — hiding them, essentially.
Manager Alex Cora has taken notice.
“What they’re doing is interesting, with all their starters in the bullpen and kind of like mixing and matching and going to three innings. That’s something that intrigues me,” Cora said before Sunday’s game. “It puts the other manager [in a situation of ], ‘How are we going to do this?’ So maybe we can go that route.”
Not with Sale. The Red Sox would prefer to keep him as a starter, even if it means he only goes three or four innings at a time upon activation from the 60day injured list.
Could Garrett Whitlock (elbow), who hasn’t proved he is able to stay healthy and has struggled as a starter, and Tanner Houck (facial fracture), who is dominant the first two times through an order but labors the third time through, be used behind an opener when they return from the IL?
Perhaps.
The Red Sox have gone more than a month utilizing the opener in 40 percent of their contests and have managed to dominate their opponents for most of that time. But the sustainability of the strategy, eventually, runs out of steam because there’s so much reliance on bullpen arms.
“It’s going to get tougher now,” Cora said.
The bullpen strategy has been working, thanks in part to Nick Pivetta, Chris Murphy, and Brennan Bernardino, who was Sunday’s opener.
But one thing is clear: the Red Sox need starters, and Sale will remain one.
On to Seattle
The Red Sox will be in Seattle next for a series at T-Mobile Park beginning Monday.
After Sunday’s game, Cora said reliever Joely Rodriguez (hip) will be going on the injured list and Pivetta will start the series opener against the Mariners opposite George Kirby. It was originally going to be an opener game for the Sox.
Rodriguez was visibly frustrated inside the visitors clubhouse after Saturday’s game.
“We felt like [Sunday] he was making strides. But that wasn’t the case,” said Cora.
The Sox don’t view Rodriguez’s injury as anything serious and believe he will need just the minimum amount of days. This IL stint will mark his third of the season. Rodriguez has pitched in just 11 games, posting a 6.55 ERA over 11 innings.
McGuire expected back
Catcher Reese McGuire (oblique) will come off the injured list and join the Red Sox in Seattle. The cross-country travel, Cora noted, makes it difficult to pinpoint a day . . . Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, was forced to leave Sunday’s game with hamstring tightness.