The real Yaz stops by early to see grandson

Fenway Park was nearly empty early Thursday morning when Carl Yastrzemski strolled down the third base concourse and made his way into the visitors’ clubhouse.

The 84-year-old Hall of Famer wanted to see his grandson, Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski.

“We didn’t even really talk about hitting. He just asked how I was feeling physically. Good to see him and it was fun to have him around for a minute,” Mike Yastrzemski said.

The younger Yaz went 1 for 2 with a home run to right field off Josh Winckowski in the third inning to help the Giants to a 3-1 victory.

The crowd of 30,065 gave the Andover native a loud cheer. The cheers continued for his every step around the bags. He signaled to family members in the stands when he reached home plate. It was his second career homer at Fenway, the first coming in 2019.

Carl Yastrzemski makes only occasional visits to Fenway these days. He did not stay for the game. Giants manager Bob Melvin said he was “awestruck” to see the Sox great in the clubhouse.

“I didn’t have a ton to say to him,” Melvin told reporters. “There’s some cool days in baseball, and I’ve had a lot of them. This is one of them.”

Health on horizon

Good health is on the horizon for Red Sox starters

Nick Pivetta (elbow) pitched four innings for Triple A Worcester Thursday evening, going three innings. He yielded three hits, four runs, four walks, and struck out five.

And Brayan Bello will make his start for Double A Portland.

Moreover, Garrett Whitlock (left oblique strain), who had been slow to progress, played catch Thursday and will throw his first bullpen Saturday.

“I’m feeling really good,” said Whitlock. “The doctors gave me the green light to start throwing.”

Whitlock went to the injured list on April 17. He tried to urge manager Alex Cora and the medical staff that he could try to pitch through it, but the club immediately shut Whitlock down.

“The whole thing was frustrating,” added Whitlock. “Just like me thinking I can power through this. And the doctors were like, no, this isn’t something that you power through. Like, it’s still really early in the season and this is an actual injury.”

Once Whitlock began throwing again, the righthander still felt pain in his side which slowed his process. However, the Sox still kept Whitlock’s arm moving to ensure that he wouldn’t be too far behind. Now, Whitlock is finally beginning to feel like himself again.

And, for what it’s worth, what was left of the Sox rotation/pitching staff continued to perform, leading the majors with a 2.58 ERA.

“It’s a testament to the depth that we have, and to those guys,” said Whitlock. “They’re showing themselves to be real big leagues and it’s awesome.

Yoshida: surgery possible

The Sox placed Masataka Yoshida on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb strain Wednesday (retroactive to April 29). Yoshida won’t return for the start of the Red Sox’ next homestand. He underwent an MRI/further testing Wednesday and the team is still gathering information. When asked Thursday if surgery was a possibility, Cora didn’t rule it out.

Yoshida won’t be on the trip to Minnesota.

Short on active roster

The Red Sox added Zack Short to the active roster for Thursday’s series finale. Short played second going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.

To make room for Short, the Sox optioned Enmanuel Valdez to Triple A Worcester. Valdez hit just .156/.187/ .452 with two homers in 98 plate appearances. However, Cora was encouraged about his progress, particularly defensively at second.

“It was night and day defensively. He did an amazing job,” said Cora. “Everything that we asked him to do in the offseason, he did. It started with the program with [former third base coach] Carlos [Febles]. He did an outstanding job defensively. Offensively, he hit the ball hard in the air. He’s a good at-bat. You see the at-bat, you probably thought that he was hitting .280 with an .850 OPS.”

Dalbec demoted

Bobby Dalbec was optioned to Triple A Worcester, making room for second baseman Vaughn Grissom, whom the club will reinstate from the IL ahead of Friday’s contest . . . Naoyuki Uwasawa made his major-league debut for the Sox Thursday, pitching the final two innings in scoreless fashion without yielding a hit while striking out one.