No choice but to move on from Story injury

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Trevor Story wore his uniform pants and a blue Red Sox jacket over a T-shirt to watch the game against the Angels on Saturday night.

After a 2-1 loss, Story spoke to a small group of reporters and acknowledged what team officials would not, that he had a “significant” injury to his left shoulder and could well miss the remainder of the season.

“It’s just frustrating. It’s not fun, man,” Story said, his voice thick with emotion.

Story turned back to his locker when the interview ended and struggled to take the jacket off, wincing as he tried to ease his arm out of the sleeve.

It felt like the moment the season essentially came to an end for the Sox.

There are 152 games remaining, starting with the home opener Tuesday afternoon against the Orioles. But for a team that was already playing with a razor-thin margin for error, losing top starter Lucas Giolito and now Story in the last month seems like too much to overcome.

The Sox were counting on Story as a middle-of-the-order bat and a shortstop whose range and instincts would improve the overall infield defense.

Manager Alex Cora was quick to add base running when asked about Story’s impact on the team. That, too, was part of his game the Sox thought would make a big difference this season.

“We had a balance in the lineup. Now we have to make adjustments,” Cora said. “There’s something about him . . . the way he looked, playing the part.”

Instead, the Sox have another position where they’ll have to patch it together with platoon players. That’s a hard way to play over a full season.

Then Sunday rolled around and the Sox put a 12-2 beating on the Angels. David Hamilton, who was called up to take Story’s place on the roster and was in the lineup at shortstop, hit his first major league homer and Tyler O’Neill hit his fifth of the season.

The Sox finished 7-3 on their West Coast road trip. Sounds good . . . maybe.

Cora’s 2021 team opened up 7-3 and went on to the American League Championship Series.

The Sox were 7-3 in 2015 and ended up in last place at 78-84. General manager Ben Cherington was fired in August.

Cora is looking forward to the home opener. There will be a reunion of the 2004 team with Terry Francona on hand and the late Tim Wakefield will be rightfully honored before the game.

“It should be fun, man,” Cora said. “For a team that nobody cares [about], people care. They care about this organization. They care about the Red Sox. There is something about the home opener that is special.”

Cora hopes the pregame festivities will provide some inspiration to the current players, many of whom probably couldn’t name more than a few of the heroes of ’04.

“We’re young and we don’t know any better,” Cora said.

In this case, that’s probably for the best. Just go play.

“What happened to Trevor was really unfortunate,” said Triston Casas, who had two hits Sunday and was dancing with his bat to a salsa beat afterward. “It’s going to take the 26-man roster and the extra guys in Triple A for us to win.

“He’s obviously an elite-caliber player when he’s out there healthy on the field. We’re pretty bummed out because he was off to a great start. But we have to rally together even more to pick up the slack.”

Cora was enthused as the Sox packed up to go home and munched on In-N-Out burgers. His rotation has a 1.53 ERA, O’Neill is playing like the star he was for the Cardinals in 2021, and some of the young players have stepped forward.

“The game will continue; it’s not going to stop,” Cora said. “People are getting hurt all over the place and teams need to keep going. That’s the way people have to see it.”

As much as anybody around the team, Cora feels badly for Story. But you can’t cash in the rest of the season in April.

“We’ve got to move on,” Cora said, clapping his hands for emphasis. “We’ve got to go. It doesn’t matter. It matters but it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to keep playing good baseball.”