Now the two everyday infielders are set to see their roles scaled back.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated that Hernández will no longer serve as starting shortstop and will instead shift to a utility role, while Justin Turner will see more time at first base in place of Casas, who instead started at designated hitter Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies.

“We went with our best defensive alignment,” Cora said. “That’s something we recognized, obviously the roster is the roster and we have to play with it, but last night I told (bench coach Ramon Vazquez) this is where we’re going.”

Instead of playing shortstop, Hernández will now primarily play second base and center field and will occasionally come in as shortstop in late-game pinch hitter situations. Pablo Reyes will see more time at shortstop, but Cora also emphasized they do not see him as an everyday player either, so the club will most likely mix and match until Yu Chang is ready to return.

Cora also said they’re going to try and avoid using Christian Arroyo at shortstop, leaving the club with limited options with the current roster.

Hernández’s struggles have been well documented. Entering Tuesday he led MLB with 14 errors, 12 of which came on botched throws, and Monday he threw away a ball that would have ended the fourth inning but instead allowed Colorado to score its first run of the game.

Cora said Hernández’s struggles have been surprising and that his arm and mechanics are good, but he’s had a lot of trouble making certain routine plays.

“There are a few plays, especially to his right, where he gets it on time and he slows down and he throws it away. It’s always to his right,” Cora said. “The other ones, trying to turn a double play, all that stuff, that’s going to happen, but the routine ones, he’s having trouble.”

Though Casas drew praise for his defense upon being called up last September, he’s struggled making certain plays and couldn’t cleanly field a routine ground ball in the 10th inning on Monday, which resulted in the eventual game-winning run scoring. Casas leads American League first basemen with four errors, and Cora said there are certain fielding adjustments they would like to see.

“There are a few things he’s not doing,” Cora said. “We’re working with him on his pre-pitch, some things that we have to clean up, decisions on certain ground balls. We’ll keep working with him just like we’re working with Kiké.”

Cora said they have no plans to demote Casas to Triple-A and they will continue working with him at the big league level, but for now the priority needs to be winning games. He said the number one rule of baseball is if you play bad defense you won’t win games, so if the Red Sox hope to close the gap between themselves and their peers they have to take action or risk falling further behind.

“At the end of the day you get (only so many) opportunities to play the position, but you have to make adjustments,” Cora said. “Is it late? Maybe, maybe not. We’ve just got to move on.”

Story’s role a question

With no regular shortstop available on the active roster, the Red Sox could really use Trevor Story back. The two-time All-Star is still recovering from offseason elbow surgery, but on Monday Story said he believes he could be ready to return as a shortstop by August, and possibly by July as a designated hitter.

Story would be a huge help in either capacity, but working him back into the picture as a designated hitter would be much more complicated than it seems at first glance.

Roster-wise, Story serving as everyday DH would require either Turner or Casas to sit most days, and it might also limit the club’s ability to mix and match its outfielders. More importantly, Story would also presumably use up his minor league rehab assignment dates serving as a DH, which might complicate his ability to transition back to shortstop — where he’s really needed — once he is ready to return in that role.

Does that make a Story return as DH in July impossible? Not at all, but Cora said Tuesday that it wouldn’t be easy to pull off.

“With the roster right now it’s kind of hard to do that, but I’m not closing the door,” Cora said. “Like I said a few days ago, right now where we are roster wise that’s very difficult but you never know what could happen in the future.”

Schreiber taking steps

Red Sox right-hander John Schreiber (right teres major strain) threw off flat ground up to 85 feet on Tuesday and is feeling better, Cora said. The reliever has been out since May 15 and has a 2.12 ERA on the season in 18 appearances.

Cora also said lefty Joely Rodriguez (left shoulder inflammation) is expected to throw a bullpen in the coming days, and fellow lefty Richard Bleier (left shoulder inflammation) is still not playing catch. Shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (left ACL rehab) is shut down from baseball activities and is not close to a return.

They had old friend Connor Seabold on the ropes in the first inning, tagging the ex-Red Sox hurler for three straight singles out of the gate before squandering the prime scoring opportunity and coming away with nothing.

They took a 2-1 lead on a Christian Arroyo solo shot in the seventh, only to immediately allow Colorado to tie it right back up the following inning.

Rafael Devers put a charge into what would have been the go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth, but Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones made an unbelievable catch at the bullpen wall to keep the ball in the yard and the game tied.

Finally, with two outs and the extra-innings ghost runner still at second, Nick Pivetta loaded the bases and walked in the go-ahead run. With a steady rain devolving into a complete deluge, the Rockies added another on a Triston Casas error at first and the grounds crew came out to stop the action with the Red Sox trailing by two in the top of the 10th.

Nearly an hour and a half later, the Red Sox wrapped up the evening in fitting fashion, with Alex Verdugo grounding into the game ending double play to cap off the dispiriting 4-3 loss.

As has happened so often, the Red Sox let another game slip away thanks to sloppy play and ill-timed miscues. They also squandered another gem by starting pitcher James Paxton, who was excellent once again.

Paxton pitched into the seventh inning and allowed only one run on five hits and a walk while striking out eight. His lone run was unearned, coming when Kiké Hernández committed his 14th error of the season on a play that would have ended the fourth inning.

Outside of the first three batters Seabold also had a great night for Colorado. Starting with the Devers double play and Adam Duvall strikeout to escape the bases-loaded first inning jam, Seabold retired 14 of the next 16 batters he faced into the sixth.

Devers grounder to the pitcher was particularly frustrating, given that it came on the first pitch of the at bat and resulted in both the lead runner at home and Devers himself being erased, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora said afterwards that he appreciated the aggressive approach.

“He was overly aggressive with Cole and he hit it out of the ballpark to left field. That’s the beauty of Raffy, right?” Cora said, referring to Devers’ home run in New York over the weekend. “It’s one of those where it looks bad because he hit a ground ball to the pitcher but the other day when he swung at the changeup he hit it out of the ballpark and everyone was praising him. It’s baseball.”

Seabold wound up allowing one run over six innings, with the Red Sox finally getting to him after Alex Verdugo walked and Justin Turner tied the game with an opposite field RBI double.

Following Arroyo’s seventh inning homer, Colorado tied the game in the eighth after Jurickson Profar doubled and came around to score on an Elias Diaz RBI single up the middle off Josh Winckowski. The Rockies eventually loaded the bases before lefty Brennan Bernardino came on and delivered by striking out Jones to end the threat.

The Red Sox got their last best chance in the bottom of the ninth when Arroyo doubled with two outs to put the winning run in scoring position, but Boston couldn’t get him in as Daniel Bard, the former Red Sox reliever who made it back to the big leagues after seven years in baseball purgatory and was making his first appearance at Fenway Park since 2013, got Connor Wong to ground out to force extra innings.

Then the rain came, both figuratively and literally, and put a damper on what could have been a satisfying night at Fenway Park. When the clouds finally lifted the Red Sox got a run back on a Rob Refsnyder RBI single to score the extra-innings ghost runner, but Verdugo’s double play nipped the rally in the bud.

With the loss Boston falls to 33-34. They will be back Tuesday for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch.

Ten years later, he returns to Boston as one of baseball’s most unlikely success stories.

Now 37 and in his fourth season with the Colorado Rockies, the former Red Sox reliever is playing at Fenway Park for the first time since 2013, when he began what wound up being a seven-year journey through the baseball wilderness.

“It’s wild, man. It’s definitely a little bit surreal, in a good way,” Bard said. “I always wanted to come take my kids to a game here when they got a little older, I didn’t think I’d be playing in it, I thought I’d just be taking them as a fan.”

Bard’s last appearance in Boston came on April 27, 2013, when he walked two and allowed a run without recording an out during the eighth inning of an eventual 8-4 win over the Houston Astros. Coming off a disastrous 2012 and starting the year in Double-A, the outing was the last straw and Bard was subsequently demoted and later released.

Battling the yips and unable to command his pitches, he bounced around the minors for a couple of years and was out of baseball entirely by 2018.

Then, incredibly, Bard made it all the way back.

Bard announced his intention to give baseball one more try in February 2020, and after throwing for scouts he signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and ultimately made the club’s opening day roster once the pandemic-shortened season kicked off in July.

That summer he posted a 3.65 ERA in 23 appearances, and by the following year he’d emerged as one of the game’s top closers. Last season Bard was outstanding, posting a 1.79 ERA while ranking third in the National League with 34 saves.

Does Bard ever think about how improbable his journey is?

“I try to think about it every day,” Bard said. “I think it’s a good reminder, it helps me appreciate what I’ve got and appreciate this environment and this opportunity. It’s crazy, it’s wild that I’m here.”

Bard’s comeback hasn’t come without its bumps. During this spring’s World Baseball Classic Bard had the opportunity to pitch for Team USA, but his command abandoned him again and he wound up allowing eight runs over 1.2 innings of work.

Recognizing history repeating itself, Bard stepped away and started the season on the 15-day injured list with anxiety, a courageous and public acknowledgement of the impact mental health can have on an athlete. The reset appears to have paid off — Bard returned on April 19 and had a 0.79 ERA in 18 appearances entering Monday.

“I’m doing really well, took a couple of weeks to step away back in April, which was a hard decision to make at the time but I 100% know it was the right decision for me and I think for the team too,” Bard said. “I haven’t been perfect since I got back but I feel like I’m in a great spot. I feel like I’ve been able to stay clear-headed and go compete and do my best to help this team win some games.”

Despite how things ended, Bard said he still looks back at his time in Boston fondly. He has strong family connections to the area, noting that his grandfather coached at both MIT and Holy Cross, and he also spent time locally in the Cape Cod Baseball League before joining the Red Sox as a first-round pick in the 2006 MLB Draft.

“Ninety-eight percent positive, it was really just right there at the end where the negative memories were,” Bard said. “I don’t want to say I’ve blocked it out but I’ve moved past that now.”

Now a father of three, Bard said the thing he’s looking forward to most is showing his kids around Fenway Park. But beyond that, he’s hoping to reconnect with old friends, take in the familiar atmosphere and enjoy an experience that not long ago seemed unattainable.

“I look back on my first part of my career here and at the time I think I got so into trying to perform that I forgot to enjoy it at times,” Bard said. “This time around I’ve really tried to not take things for granted.”

Story making progress

Trevor Story is back at Fenway Park after spending the last few weeks rehabbing in Fort Myers, and Monday he was throwing up to 120 feet, another step forward in his recovery from elbow surgery.

Though Story does not have a specific target return date, he is optimistic he could return to the field in a reasonable amount of time.

“I feel good about coming back to play shortstop sometime in August,” Story said. “I know that’s what I want to do, that’s my goal, so that’s kind of where I’ve got my head at.”

Story said the next stages in his progression are to increase his throwing distance up to 150 feet, and eventually to start taking ground balls and doing dynamic activities like diving, getting up and throwing. He is also hitting off the pitching machine and hopes to soon begin taking live batting practice.

He also acknowledged he could potentially return as soon as July as a designated hitter, though they are still trying to determine if that’s the best course of action.

“It’s still on the table. It’s still definitely a possibility, I’m getting ready for that, that’s something I really want to do,” Story said. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it though, it’s not as simple as it seems, so I’m getting ready for that and we’ll make that decision here in the coming weeks.”

In other injury news: infielder Yu Chang (fractured left hamate) was pulled off his rehab assignment again after experiencing soreness in his wrist again. He will remain with the big league club this week and the hope is for him to resume his rehab next week.

Red Sox trailing in early All-Star vote

MLB has announced the initial leaders in this year’s All-Star vote, and as things stand the Red Sox would not have a single player advance as a finalist.

Rafael Devers is currently the Red Sox top contender, coming in at third among American League third baseman with 221,310 votes. He is well behind Toronto’s Matt Chapman (1st, 475,322) and Texas’ Josh Jung (2nd, 470,836), who appear set to advance to Phase 2 for the right to be voted in as the AL starting third baseman.

Masataka Yoshida is actually Boston’s leading vote getter (268,969) but ranks eighth among AL outfielders, with the top six advancing to the finals. Justin Turner is eighth among designated hitters (72,273) and Kiké Hernández is 10th among shortstops (43,651).

Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (1,086,537) and Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani (924,182) are the top two vote-getters overall and the leaders of their respective leagues as well.

The first two games of the series had been tight, why should the third be any different?

Tighter, even, as it was Boston’s first extra-inning game since April 29.

From start to finish, it was a night of dominant Red Sox pitching. For the second time in his career, Bello made a 7-inning start, holding the Yankees to two sort-of-earned runs and the only three hits they’d collect all night. They own the fourth-lowest on-base percentage in the majors.

After Bello exited, Nick Pivetta, Kenley Jansen, and Chris Martin combined for three no-hit innings, with Martin slamming the door in the bottom of the 10th for a 3-2 victory.

As has been the case lately, what held the Red Sox back for most of the night was their bats, or lack thereof.

Jarren Duran led off with a 110 mph double on the first pitch of the game, but hopes for a different outcome than their recent stranding struggles would have to wait. Clarke Schmidt got the next three batters in order, and Duran became the 71st batter left on base by the Red Sox over their last nine games (including Sunday).

No one on base? No problem for Justin Turner, who led off the second inning by skying his eighth home run of the season into the right-field stands for a 1-0 lead. At 373 feet, it wouldn’t have been a home run at any of the other 29 ballparks, but the Red Sox will take an early lead any way they can get it; they’re now 26-16 when they hit at least one home run, and 21-6 when scoring first, in general.

Unfortunately, their first lead was short-lived. After a 1-2-3 first inning, Bello began the second by walking Josh Donaldson, and as usual, a free pass came back to bite. After getting the next two batters out, the Red Sox righty gave up a ground-rule double to Billy McKinney, then allowed the Yankees to take the lead on a single by Jose Trevino. Trevino’s hit looked like a routine grounder until it took a peculiar bounce off second base, vaulting over Kiké Hernández’s head into centerfield.

Need further proof that the Red Sox just can’t catch a break lately? Look no further than the top of the third, when Duran walloped a one-out single, only to get tagged out by Alex Verdugo.

You read that right.

Verdugo’s single hit Duran as he ran to second, essentially the baseball equivalent of being hoisted with one’s own petard. It was a moment so unusual and outlandish that, standing in the dugout, Alex Cora couldn’t help but laugh.

Following that madcap moment, however, the Boston bats disappeared. The Red Sox went 1-2-3 in innings four through seven. They had no answers for Schmidt, who went 5 1/3 innings, and held the Red Sox to four hits, Turner’s home run, struck out four, and didn’t issue a walk; 60 of his 82 pitches were for strikes, and he got seven swings-and-misses.

Meanwhile, a lackadaisical throwing error by Rafael Devers allowed one of the game’s slowest runners to reach first. Leading off the bottom of the fifth, Trevino was able to get on base when the third baseman air-mailed one to Triston Casas. Casas made an impressive leaping catch but was unable to get his foot back down to the bag in time, and the catcher, who ranks in the 4th MLB percentile in Sprint Speed, was safe.

On the whole, Devers is showing much improvement defensively this season, which makes the gaffe all the more surprising.

Finally, in the eighth inning, the Boston bats showed some life. Hernández led off with a single and advanced to second on a fielding error, and Reese McGuire joined him on the bases with a walk. Pablo Reyes moved things along with a sacrifice bunt, and Duran drove in Hernández, tying things up with a sacrifice grounder.

The Yankees kept quiet, so game went into extras, when Hernández again came through. Singling on a sharp grounder to left, he drove in Adam Duvall, who entered as the pinch-ghost runner. It was the only run they’d get, but it was enough, as Martin pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth for the win.

Over the three-game series, the Red Sox only scored seven runs, but it was enough to win the weekend. They need more from their bats, in general, but it’s quite a vote of confidence for the pitching staff.

Then 14 years old, the tall left-handed pitcher from Rowley had always been regarded as one of the region’s most promising young talents. But now he was about to go national, as news had just broken that White was now the No. 1 ranked player in the incoming high school class of 2023.

Nothing was the same after that, and it’s been a whirlwind journey for White ever since.

Four years later White has developed into one of the top baseball prospects to ever come out of Massachusetts and is considered a likely first-round pick in next month’s MLB Draft. At 6-foot-5, 215 pounds, White boasts mid-to-high 90s velocity and a combination of physical gifts and off-field intangibles that have scouts across the game salivating.

“He’s the most talented pitcher at that age I’ve seen anywhere,” said Kevin Graber, who coached White his first three years at Phillips and who recently took over as manager of the Tennessee Smokies, the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate. “And I’ve been everywhere, man.”

White first made waves nationally after throwing 91 mph as an incoming freshman at the 2019 Perfect Game BCS National Tournament, which tied the event’s all-time best fastball and played a sizable role in his being tabbed the No. 1 player in his class by Perfect Game a few months later.

Needless to say anticipation was high for his Phillips debut the following spring, but thanks to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic it wound up being a while before anyone got to see him suit up in an Andover uniform.

Because of the pandemic, White’s freshman season was canceled and his sophomore season was heavily limited, with Phillips playing just 12 games with no fans, scouts or spectators of any kind allowed in attendance. During that stretch the only way to see him was at summer tournaments and showcases, which kept a lot of the spotlight at bay during his early high school years.

“I think in an odd way it may have helped Thomas,” Graber said. “It allowed Thomas to be like an airplane gradually ascending off a runway rather than a rocket ship blasting off into outer space his freshman year.”

Once he did finally set foot on a high school mound under the proverbial bright lights, White more than lived up to the hype.

Over the past two seasons White has gone 11-3 with a 1.02 ERA and 165 strikeouts over 75 innings, allowing only 20 hits. He was twice named Gatorade Massachusetts Baseball Player of the Year and is ranked the No. 4 high school player in the country by Baseball America, and the top left-handed pitcher.

White’s starts became can’t miss events, but despite often finding himself at the center of a circus-like atmosphere, those around him raved about his maturity and the way he never let things get to his head.

“We’re very proud of him, we think he’s handled it really well,” said Joanna White, Thomas’ mother.

“He’s got a tremendous work ethic, we’ve always instilled that in him but he’s taken it to the next level,” added Tim White, Thomas’ father, who recalled an instance where they got home late one Sunday from a long weekend of travel baseball and White immediately went to the gym. “He’s extremely determined and once he sets a goal there’s no stopping him.”

In addition to his elite fastball, White has also refined his offspeed offerings. He boasts a quality changeup that sits in the low 80s along with a hard curveball that acts like a slider, and proving he could fully utilize both was a priority this season even though he was fully capable of just blowing away every hitter he faced.

Beyond his pitch mix, impressive build and intelligence — he graduated from Phillips this past weekend with “superior” marks, the highest on the prestigious prep school’s grading scale — the thing that sets White apart the most is his smooth delivery, which allows him to generate mid-to-high 90s velocity despite seemingly expending no effort on each pitch.

“You see a lot of young pitchers that throw hard but they have a lot of moving parts and a lot of fast, aggressive motions in their motion, you know? He’s quite the opposite,” said Rusty Tucker, the former Gloucester High star and San Diego Padres minor leaguer who has served as White’s pitching coach with Legends Baseball since he was 9. “He’s very smooth, he’s very strong, and that’s what a lot of scouts are really impressed with, his effortless mechanics.”

“Everything just unwinds on you and the hand is just along for the ride, and lo and behold it’s on the hitter at like 97 even though it doesn’t look like Thomas is trying to throw hard,” Graber said. “It’s truly effortless in a way that I just haven’t seen elsewhere.”

One of White’s most noteworthy appearances came at Fenway Park in the summer of 2021, when he ironically took the mound in a Yankees uniform during a showcase organized by scouts from both teams.

In attendance that day was Red Sox vice president of scouting, development and integration Gus Quattlebaum, who is himself a former Phillips standout and who also attended White’s final high school start against archrival Phillips Exeter last month — along with probably 30-40 scouts from across the league.

Is it realistic to imagine White could one day take the mound at Fenway again, this time in a Red Sox uniform?

It’s been seven years since the Red Sox last selected a high school pitcher in the first round (Jay Groome, 2016), but while Quattlebaum acknowledged the club has tended to be more aggressive in pursuing hitters recently, they wouldn’t shy away from an elite prep arm if the right one came along.

“If you see someone who can be an impact, top-of-the-rotation type arm, there have been plenty that have panned out,” Quattlebaum said. “It’s a risky demographic, certainly, but if you pick the right one they can make a big impact on your organization.”

Will the Red Sox even get the chance? Projecting any MLB Draft is notoriously difficult, but generally White is viewed as a mid-first rounder who could realistically be available when the Red Sox pick at No. 14 overall.

That being said, he could easily go inside the top 10 if the right team falls in love with his talent, and the fact that he’s a lefty could also work in his favor.

“We tend to treat them as if they’re premium position players because they’re more unique, harder to find,” Quattlebaum said. “I think it weighs in to teams when they’re going to decide how they’re going to rank on the board.”

No matter what happens next month White is in a no-lose situation. If he is drafted in the first round and signs, he would likely receive a bonus worth between $3 million to $6 million, possibly more if he goes in the top 10. If he slides down the board or receives less money than expected, he could simply honor his commitment to Vanderbilt, one of the nation’s pre-eminent college baseball powerhouses.

Regardless of which path he chooses, White’s future is bright. He has already established himself as a once-in-a-generation talent and one of Massachusetts’ all-time prep greats. Now he’ll finally have a chance to start chasing his lifelong dream of playing in the big leagues.

“Obviously there’s not too many kids from this area that become the prospect he’s become,” Tucker said. “It’s something we probably won’t see in this area again for a while.”

Arráez on historic pace

It’s been 82 years since Ted Williams became the last MLB player to bat over .400 for the season, and while the odds are against Luis Arráez breaking that mark, he’s on pace to come closer than anyone since.

Entering the weekend, the Miami Marlins infielder led all of baseball with an astonishing .403 average more than a third of the way through the season. Arráez, who won the American League batting title with the Minnesota Twins last season after hitting .316, has taken his game to another level since being traded to Miami and is now putting himself in rarified air.

Since Williams hit .406 in 1941 only two players have ever topped .390 in a season, those being Hall of Famers George Brett (.390, 1980) and Tony Gwynn (.394, 1994). Brett stood at .400 as late in the season as Sept. 19, while Gwynn’s epic run was halted by the players strike that abruptly cut short the 1994 season.

If Arráez can keep within striking distance of .400 into August and September his pursuit could become one of the most exciting baseball stories in recent memory. Even if he can’t there’s a good chance he’ll still finish with among the most prolific batting seasons of the 21st century.

Since 2000 the record for highest average in a season is .372, a mark reached in 2000 by Red Sox star Nomar Garciaparra and Colorado’s Todd Helton, and again by Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2004 when he broke the MLB single-season record for hits in a season with 262. The game has generally been trending away from prototypical high-average, low-power guys, and since 2010 the only player to even top .350 in a non-COVID-shortened season is Josh Hamilton (.359, 2010).

Simply put, they don’t make them like Arráez anymore, and even if he doesn’t hit for power or walk much, what he’s doing is remarkable and deserves to be celebrated.

Surgery for DeGrom

When the Texas Rangers signed Jacob deGrom this past offseason to a five-year, $185 million deal, they were making a risky gamble that the dominant but injury-prone 34-year-old could stay healthy and remain one of the most scintillating pitchers of his generation.

This week, that bet blew up in their face.

The Rangers announced Tuesday that deGrom needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of this season and most of next year. DeGrom only made six starts into his new deal with the Rangers, going 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 30.1 innings. For that limited production, Texas will pay deGrom $30 million this season and $40 million next year.

Beyond the implications for the Rangers and for deGrom’s career, the injury is a huge bummer for baseball fans.

Since debuting in 2014, deGrom has put together a run of dominance that rivals Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Pedro Martinez among the best in baseball history. He won Rookie of the Year in 2014, earned his first of four All-Star nods in 2015 and won back-to-back National League Cy Young Awards with the New York Mets in 2018 and 2019.

He put together another outstanding year in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and posted a historic first half in 2021, striking out 146 batters with a 1.08 ERA in 92 innings while issuing only 11 walks, but that season was cut short midseason by elbow trouble and he’s battled one injury or another ever since.

Now he likely won’t take the mound again until late 2024, by which point he’ll be 36 years old.

Whether or not deGrom will ever be the same remains to be seen, but this will be the right-hander’s second Tommy John surgery, and the list of pitchers who have come back from even one in their mid-30s is short. One reason for optimism, Justin Verlander had Tommy John surgery and missed nearly two full years in his late 30s and came back to win his third Cy Young Award last season at age 39.

Maybe deGrom can pull off something similar, but in the short term his injury is a huge blow to the sport.

Vasil earns honor

Former BC High standout Mike Vasil has been dominating Double-A ever since being called up out of spring training, and earlier this week the New York Mets prospect was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Month for May.

Vasil, a right-hander and former University of Virginia star, posted a 2.52 ERA while holding opposing batters to a .159 average in four starts over the month. He had a stretch where he allowed only one run in 21 innings, and on May 11 he posted his best start of the season, allowing one run over eight innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.

Vasil came into the weekend with a 3.13 ERA on the season with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and boasted an eye-popping strikeout to walk ratio of 54 to 6.

For the third time this week, the Red Sox fell under .500.

Despite out-hitting the Yankees, they fell to them 3-1. They’re 32-33 on the season now, dwelling in the cellar of the American League East, 14 games out of first.

Just as the Red Sox did to them in Friday night’s series opener, the Yankees gutted out a win by plating two homers and an RBI single.

But while not enough to win it, the lone Red Sox run was notable.

For the second night in a row, Rafael Devers went yard in Yankee territory. His 15th home run of the season not only traveled 417 feet, but put him in sole possession of a unique franchise record. His home run in Friday night’s series opener was his 10th career homer in the Bronx, and moved him into a tie with Babe Ruth for the most home runs by a Red Sox player in a Yankees ballpark before turning 27; his Saturday night blast set a new record.

Otherwise, it was a night of wasted opportunities for the Boston bats. They collected seven hits and four walks, and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men on base.

Masataka Yoshida’s at-bat in the top of the seventh kicked off a particularly frustrating moment. After working a 14-pitch at-bat for a two-out walk, Justin Turner joined him on base with a walk of his own. Unfortunately, their patience at the plate was for naught, as Devers grounded out on the second pitch he saw.

That the Red Sox also wasted one of the only dominant starts they’ve had recently compounds the loss.

Other than a pair of solo home runs, Tanner Houck was strong through six innings. Facing 22 Yankees batters, he held them to three hits and a walk, and struck out six.

Yankees starter Domingo Germán wasn’t able to limit base runners nearly as well, but the Red Sox didn’t take advantage. He, too, pitched six innings, but allowed six hits, two walks, and stuck out five.

For the Red Sox, this has been a stretch of digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. They’ve dropped 13 of their last 19, and are 2-6 in their last eight games, hitting .214 with just 19 total runs over the latter span.

They’re 10-for-73 (.137) with runs in scoring position and have left 70 runners on base in that span.

They’ve been back at the bottom of the division since May 30, but it wasn’t until recently that they lost their above-.500 record, too.

Forget treading water, this is a team that can’t even keep its head above water lately.

Worse yet, there’s no indication that’s going to change any time soon.

Facing off for the first time this season, the Red Sox and Yankees went toe-to-toe in the Bronx on Friday night.

What began with three scoreless innings ended in a 3-2 nail-biter victory for Boston. They’re still at the bottom of the division, but back to .500.

Without the injured Aaron Judge, who leads the league with 19 home runs, the Yankees went quietly into the night. They collected nine hits, but went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

The Boston bats barely fared better. They compiled 10 hits, but went 1-for-4 RISP, also stranding seven.

A pair of home runs made all the difference. While Garrett Whitlock held down the fort against the team that opted not to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, two of Boston’s youngest and brightest stars put the hurt on the Yankees starter.

Triston Casas began his night 2-for-2 and got the Red Sox on the board first with an RBI single, but Devers really stole the show by continuing his torment of Gerit Cole.

Entering the series, the 26-year-old third baseman had seven hits in 30 career regular-season at-bats against the Yankees right-hander, six of which were home runs.

And after doubling and scoring on Casas’ single in the fourth, Devers took Cole deep once again. His 405-foot, 106.1 mph blast is his 10th home run at Yankee Stadium, the second most he’s hit in any road park. According to Red Sox media relations, his 10th career home run at Yankee Stadium ties none other than Babe Ruth for the most home runs against the Yankees on the road before turning 27.

While Devers’ homer was the bigger deal for the aforementioned reasons, it was Kiké Hernández’s blast in the seventh that made the difference. His 391-foot homer soared into the air and cemented the slim, but decisive lead.

Cole exited after six innings and 101 pitches. He only allowed those two (earned) runs, but it extended his streak of being unable to put the Red Sox away. Since signing with the Yankees for a then-franchise record nine years and $324 million, he’s never pitched a scoreless outing against the Red Sox. His regular-season ERA against them is now 4.64 (11 starts).

Whitlock outlasted and out-pitched the Yankees starter. Over 6.1 innings, he allowed seven hits, an unearned run and one earned, walked one, and struck out six.

The 26-year-old right-hander already had ample experience mowing down his former franchise, including closing out the 2021 Wild Card game, but this was his first career start against them. Over 24.1 total innings against them, he owns a 1.85 ERA.

It was a fast game until the bottom of the ninth, when Kenley Jansen entered looking to earn his first-ever save against the Yankees. After getting two quick outs, the veteran closer allowed back-to-back singles, and worked a full-count, seven-pitch at-bat against Anthony Volpe before getting him to pop out to end the show.

Between moving Chris Sale to the 60-day injured list, the unearthing of Matt Dermody’s problematic social media history, and falling under .500, the Red Sox really needed a win.

And even though the rivalry hasn’t been the same since 2004, there’s still something about beating the Yankees in their own house that just hits different.

Kind of like a Devers homer off Cole.

Throughout the week, Adam Duvall’s return from the injured list was the eagerly-anticipated update; the veteran outfielder was off to a scorching start to the season before fracturing his wrist in mid-April.

But while Duvall has, indeed, been reinstated and is in the lineup for Friday night, the announcement included much bigger, bad news: Chris Sale has been transferred from the 15-day to 60-day injured list.

The 34-year-old southpaw last pitched on June 1. After looking dominant in the early frames, his velocity and command took a sharp turn. When Alex Cora came out to the mound to take him out after 3.2 innings, it was clear something was wrong.

Sale’s diagnosis was left-shoulder inflammation. The latest from the team is that imaging indicated a stress reaction in his scapula (shoulder blade bone). While the injury doesn’t currently require surgery, he’ll need more rest and rehab time than originally anticipated. He’ll be reevaluated in three to four weeks, at which time, they’ll determine next steps.

But even without this update, the move to the 60-day speaks for itself. As the numbers suggest, the 15-day stipulates a minimum of 15 days, but a player can remain on the list for much longer. The same rules apply to the 60-day; now, Sale can return no earlier than Aug. 2. The Red Sox being willing to make this change and lose him for at least that long indicates his situation is more dire than expected.

What it means for this team’s hopes of a viable season is yet unknown, but there’s no question, it’s a massive, painful blow. After elbow inflammation ended his season in August 2019, Sale missed most of the next three seasons. Tommy John surgery in April 2020 cost him that entire year, and most of the next. He returned in August 2021, almost exactly two years to the day of his last major league game, only to miss almost the entire 2022 season due to an avalanche of injuries: rib fracture, pinky fracture, wrist fracture.

All told, Sale came into this spring training having thrown 48.1 regular-season innings over the past two years. The Boston baseball community held its collective breath as the southpaw carefully navigated spring training and reached Opening Day, healthy for the start of a season for the first time since 2019.

The veteran southpaw looked rusty at the beginning, but after a few shaky contests, he began to put together an impressive comeback season. Over his last eight starts, he posted a 2.87 ERA and held batters to a .216 average and .633 OPS; since the beginning of May, those numbers were even better: a 2.43 ERA, .204 AVG, and .641 OPS. He issued no more than one walk in each of his last seven outings, and allowed no more than two earned runs in six of his last eight.

Throughout the offseason and spring, how Sale would fare this year was considered a weather vane or litmus test of the Red Sox season, as he’d been in the past. And even if the team didn’t end up being successful as a whole, if he was finally be able to make a comeback after so many tragic setbacks, it would be an uplifting, bright spot.

For now, the Red Sox have neither.

Other roster moves

In addition to the Duvall and Sale moves, the Red Sox selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Joe Jacques, optioned infielder Enmanuel Valdez to Triple-A, and designated left-hander Matt Dermody for assignment.

Jacques, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 33rd-round pick in 2018, is a Rule 5 Draft pickup. He’s posted a 3.58 ERA across 23 appearances (1 start) with Triple-A Worcester this season, but his most appealing attributes are his impressive walk (7.5%) and groundball (56.3%) rates. Will the Red Sox strike gold with him, like they did with Garrett Whitlock?

Down on the farm, Stephen Scott and Tyler Dearden were promoted to Triple-A Worcester.

Rivalry notes

Gerrit Cole got the start in the Bronx on Friday night, which means another showdown between the $300 million pitcher and his $300 million tormentor, Rafael Devers.

In 30 career at-bats against Cole in the regular season, Devers has seven hits, six of which are home runs (though only one was in New York). He’s never homered more than three times against any other pitcher in the game. He’s homered more off the Yankees (19 HR) than any other team, including nine career homers at their stadium, his second-highest total in an opponent’s ballpark.

In general, the Yankees are faring significantly better than the Red Sox this spring, despite some major injuries of their own.

Even without Carlos Rodon (60-day, back/forearm), Aaron Judge (10-day, toe sprain) and Nestor Cortes (15-day, rotator cuff), to name a few, they were 37-27, a respectable record, though in the hotly-contested American League East, it’s only good for third place.

This is already Judge’s second IL stint of the season, but the ailments haven’t stopped him from tearing the cover off the ball. He’s leading the AL with 19 home runs, and leading the majors with a .674 slugging percentage and 1.078 OPS.

Its pitching staff decimated by injuries, the Red Sox turned to Matt Dermody to start Thursday’s series finale against the Cleveland Guardians, opting for the career minor leaguer rather than anyone else who may have been available.

The move immediately prompted an outpouring of criticism given Dermody’s past history of bigoted social media activity, and on top of that Red Sox manager Alex Cora also announced pregame that leadoff hitter Alex Verdugo was being benched for not running out a ground ball.

Needless to say, the vibes weren’t great when the Red Sox took the field at Progressive Field, and things only got worse once the game started.

Cleveland clobbered Boston 10-3 to take the series and knock the Red Sox below .500 for the first time since April 28. Slumping superstar Jose Ramirez led the charge with three home runs, and after Dermody was lifted following four innings Corey Kluber came in and got lit up for seven runs on 11 hits, eight of which came consecutively in a five-run bottom of the sixth.

“We lost the series and there was a lot of talk of stuff, but at the end of the day we have to move forward,” Cora said afterwards. “We have to cancel the noise and start playing good baseball. That’s the most important thing. We haven’t done that in a while.”

Ramirez tagged Dermody in each of his first two at-bats, the first a solo shot to left field in the first inning and the second a two-run blast to center in the third, which gave Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

Boston climbed back with an RBI single by Jarren Duran in the fifth and a towering solo home run by Triston Casas in the sixth, but then Cleveland opened the floodgates by smashing Kluber in a disastrous bottom of the sixth.

Ramirez led off the inning with his third home run, this one a solo shot to right field, and that wound up being the first of eight consecutive hits by Cleveland in the inning, four of which went for extra bases. The rally included a two-run double by Andres Giménez, an RBI triple by Myles Straw and an RBI single by Will Brennan, and it wasn’t until the ninth batter when Kluber finally forced an out on a deep fly ball to the warning track.

“It’s very tough,” Cora said. “Hit ball hard, off the end, check swings, it was like he couldn’t buy a break.”

Cleveland wound up scoring twice more in the eighth on a Brennan home run and a Ramirez fielder’s choice, and though Boston got a run back in the ninth on a Kiké Hernández RBI double, the game was essentially over by that point.

Following the game Cora announced that Dermody was being designated for assignment and there will likely be more roster moves to come. One of those will almost certainly be the activation of Adam Duvall from the 60-day IL, though Cora suggested the club will add at least one pitcher as well.

Dermody spoke following the game, calling his outing “subpar” and addressing his homophobic tweet from 2021, in which he asserted that gay people are going to go to hell.

“I do regret the tweet in the sense that it came off hurtful and it hurt a lot of people, and that’s the last thing I want to do is hurt people,” Dermody said. “A lot of people think that I’m against certain groups of people or whatnot, but I’m for everyone making it to heaven, and that’s my goal as a Christian.”

With Thursday’s loss the Red Sox are now 10-18 in their last 28 games and are 31-32 on the season. They are 14 games out of first place, five games back of the last American League playoff spot and will play six of their next nine games against the New York Yankees.

“It’s not the type of baseball we wanted to play, but here we are,” Cora said. “We’re going to New York and we have three games there, and we have to play well.”

So reads the penultimate line of Major League Baseball’s official harassment policy.

Yet anyone who’s spent time in or around the game, or is familiar with the league’s history, knows that there are often exceptions, especially when it might benefit the on-field product.

The Red Sox made such a choice on Thursday night, when they deployed Matt Dermody to start their series finale in Cleveland. Faced with an injury-ravaged, underperforming pitching staff, they selected his contract from Triple-A Worcester, and opened the floodgates.

Almost exactly two years ago, Dermody tweeted: “#PrideMonth. Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will go to hell. This is not my opinion, but the #Truth. Read 1 Corinthians 6:9. May we all examine our hearts, ask Jesus to forgive us and repent of all our sins. I love you all in Christ Jesus!”

Dermody deleted the tweet days later but it’s preserved for eternity via screenshots posted on Twitter. Likewise for older tweets in which he used racial slurs, and many tweets he ‘Liked’ over the last two years, which include transphobic messaging, advocating for physical discipline of children, and the suggestion that Dr. Anthony Fauci be publicly hanged to death on primetime television.

With Adam Duvall set to be activated from the injured list on Friday, it’s almost guaranteed that Dermody, who’d pitched in exactly two major league games since 2017 before Thursday, won’t remain on the roster for long. It won’t matter though; the damage is already done. It takes a lot to get Red Sox Nation to root against their own, but the team’s tweets for the Dermody roster move and lineup are full of disappointed and angry fans.

Simply put, the Red Sox, who make their home in the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage, and who are less than a week away from hosting Pride Night at Fenway Park, are in a debacle of their own making.

They had to be expecting some backlash, though sources and public statements both indicate that the organization was unaware of the full scope of Dermody’s social media activity. Chaim Bloom told MassLive‘s Sean McAdam that the Red Sox became aware of the Pride Month tweet during spring training, and proceeded to have club officials meet with him. It escaped their usual pre-signing background check because he’d already deleted it.

“Knowing that the tweet had been taken down and not knowing anything else, I don’t think you have enough information to make a decision,” the Red Sox chief baseball officer said.

This begs the question, how do their own fans have more information?

Because they looked. Simply typing the pitcher’s full name into the platform’s search bar yields an avalanche of bigotry. One baseball fan tweeted that it only took five minutes to find the content Dermody feels merits Twitter’s heart-shaped ‘Like’ button. Perhaps the Red Sox will consider expanding their screening process now.

They have not issued any kind of official statement, let alone an apology, as the Saitama Seibu Lions of the NPB did in 2021, as Dermody had been on their roster at the time of his Pride Month tweets.

Bloom told MassLive that he’d spoken to Dermody “personally.”

“What he told me was that it really came down to two things,” Bloom said. “One, he didn’t realize that his words would be hurtful and he didn’t want to hurt anybody and when he realized that they were, he took (the post) down.”

Of course, Dermody’s older tweets remain, including one with the hashtag “classic Jew joke” and another in which he uses the N-word.

Alex Cora had harsher words for Alex Verdugo, whom he benched on Thursday for lack of hustle in the previous game, than Dermody. Verdugo’s play was “not acceptable and he knows it,” the manager told reporters.

“As an organization, we made this decision,” Cora told reporters Thursday evening. “As an organization, we’ve done a lot of stuff to educate our players in the subject.

“I don’t know how many organizations, they do it with their employees and their players, you know, as far as like, educating them about being inclusive, and obviously, accepting everybody in the clubhouse and in your working environment.”

The league requires teams conduct annual training regarding discrimination and harassment, but this is mandatory for non-playing staff only. Sources told the Herald what Cora confirmed Thursday evening, that the Red Sox choose to mandate the same training for their major- and minor-league players.

Of course, going above and beyond the league’s conditions holds little water when the tenets aren’t actually upheld.

“Obviously, not too many people agree with the tweet,” Cora continued. “I’m not here to tell him what to say or what to do, but one thing for sure, when you put this uniform (on), obviously, you’re, what we want is to be inclusive.

“I think the clubhouse is a reflection of the world. If you think about it, we’ve got people from different races, different beliefs, not only religious beliefs, but also politics.”

The Cleveland Guardians broadcasters couldn’t believe their eyes when the Red Sox infield committed a slew of errors in the bottom of the fourth, giving the home team a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

It's called the Hot Corner for a reason.

The @CleGuardians capitalize on multiple Boston miscues and take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/il3rfVZwPz

— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) June 8, 2023

Perhaps they shouldn’t have been throwing stones from their glass house, as the Guardians infield had committed their own pair of errors in the top of that very inning.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox have been all errors and no comedy this season and it continues to cost them. They already led the American League with 40 errors before making three in the same inning on Wednesday night.

After Amed Rosario led off the inning with a single, Jose Ramirez reached on a fielding error by first baseman Triston Casas. Both Guardians quickly advanced on a throwing error by second baseman Enmanuel Valdez. Josh Naylor promptly re-tied the game with a single, and Cleveland took the lead in the next at-bat, when a fielding error by Rafael Devers allowed Josh Bell to reach and Ramirez to score.

Kutter Crawford was gone by then. The Red Sox starter lasted just three innings, struck out three, and allowed one earned run on five hits; the other three runs scored during his outing were unearned.

In Tuesday night’s series opener, the Red Sox had come from behind for the 18th time this season (tied for second-most in the majors) and move back into a winning record. They followed up that gutsy performance by taking two early leads and squandering them both. An early 2-1 lead turned into a 5-2 loss, putting Boston back at .500 (31-31) once again. They’ve lost seven of their last 10 games.

Errors are just one piece of the problem puzzle for this team; the bats have gone ice cold. Between April 14 and May 6, the Red Sox were hitting .295 with a .840 OPS, averaging 6.2 runs per game. Since May 7, their collective numbers have plummeted to .246, a .712 OPS, and averaging four runs per game (entering Wednesday night).

In this contest, the Red Sox collected five hits and four walks, and went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight men on base. They’ve scored no more than two runs in 11 of their last 22 games, and with this latest loss, they’re 2-21 when scoring less than four runs.

Chris Murphy’s major league debut was the lone bright spot in this error-filled, midge-swarmed game.

Boston’s No. 14 prospect got the call on Monday, his 25th birthday. Two days later, he took the mound for the first time as a major league pitcher.

The organization’s sixth-round pick in 2019, Murphy primarily worked his way up the farm system as a starting pitcher. His most recent Triple-A game was his first relief appearance of the season, three shutout innings, one hit, three strikeouts.

That bullpen outing seemed to prepare him well for his debut. Murphy took over in the bottom of the fifth, tasked with getting the third out and stranding Ramirez on second. He needed just two pitches to get out of the inning, then returned for a few more.

By the time he walked off the mound at the end of the eighth, Murphy had pitched 3 ⅓ innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts and one walk on just 54 pitches. His fastball velocity averaged 94.5 mph throughout the night, and topped out at 95.8 mph. His seven swings-and-misses matched Crawford’s for the most on the night.

It was an impressive performance on its own merit, a saving grace for the bullpen, and just about the only thing worth complimenting on a frustrating night in Cleveland.

Toxic smoke particles have traveled down to the Midwest and East coast, turning New York skies an eerie yellow-orange color and making the air unsafe. According to the Centers For Disease Control, wildfire smoke can cause short-term respiratory problems, worsen chronic ailments, and irritate eyes.

As concerning photos of the conditions at Yankee Stadium circulated online Wednesday afternoon, Collin Grosse of News12 New Jersey reported that the AQI had risen to 342 (the ideal number is as close to zero as possible), which not only puts New York City in the “Hazardous” category, but also makes it currently the worst air quality of any major city on earth.

Less than two hours later, the Yankees announced the postponement of their Wednesday night game against the Chicago White Sox. They’ll now attempt to play a doubleheader on Thursday, before the Red Sox are scheduled to arrive. The Philadelphia Phillies also postponed their Wednesday contest with the Detroit Tigers.

However, New York’s Air Quality Alert is currently in effect until 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 8, and there’s little chance of conditions improving so drastically over the next 24 hours.

Sources tell the Herald that the Red Sox are in communication with the Yankees and league office regarding the situation. As of Wednesday evening, there had been no discussion of moving the series to Fenway Park.

Shipping up to Boston is currently the safer route. Massachusetts is affected by the wildfires, too, but not as severely. By 8 p.m. Wednesday night, the AQI in the Fenway area had improved to the 40s, putting it back in the satisfactory range, while New York’s had only sunk as low as 275.

It took a while, but eventually the bats did finally come through.

The Red Sox rallied for four runs in the top of the eighth to come from behind and beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-4, snapping the club’s three-game losing streak and pushing Boston back over .500 at 31-30. Rob Refsnyder delivered the go-ahead RBI single and Paxton earned the win.

“It’s been awhile, right?” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the team’s big inning. “It was quality at bat after quality at bat, Pablo (Reyes) going the other way and everyone contributed. It was a good one.”

Early on it didn’t seem like it was going to be Paxton’s night, as the big lefty labored through a tough first inning in which he threw 28 pitches and allowed two runs on back-to-back RBI doubles by Josh Naylor and Josh Bell.

But from there he settled down and went seven innings, allowing just the two runs on six hits and two walks. He also struck out nine, drawing 24 whiffs on the night, and threw 71 of his 106 pitches for strikes.

Though he finished the seventh trailing 2-1, the Red Sox bats finally came through in the eighth with the kind of sustained rally they’ve rarely been able to string together in recent weeks.

Boston scored four runs in the inning, which began when the Red Sox first six batters reached safely. While a 399-foot liner by Triston Casas somehow resulted in a single that failed to score Justin Turner from second, the Red Sox were able to take the lead anyway when Kiké Hernández subsequently drew a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded to tie it and Refsnyder came through with the go-ahead RBI single.

Reyes tacked on an RBI single of his own and Alex Verdugo picked up what proved the game-winning sacrifice fly. While Chris Martin endured one of his shakiest outings of the season, he was able to limit the Guardians to two runs in the bottom of the eighth and struck out Myles Straw with runners at second and third to end the inning.

Kenley Jansen took care of the rest, posting a 1-2-3 ninth inning to lock down his 13th save of the season.

Hernández led the offense by going 1 for 4 with a walk and two RBI, including an RBI single in the sixth to chase former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber (5.2 innings, 1 run) and drive in Boston’s first run. Masataka Yoshida went 3 for 5 to raise his average to .319, and Casas went 2 for 4 with a pair of hard hit balls to the wall.

Kutter Crawford (1-2, 3.48 ERA) is set to get the start for the Red Sox on Wednesday and will face off against Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee (1-1, 3.20). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

Sox call up Murphy

The Red Sox shook up their bullpen again ahead of Tuesday’s game, calling up rookie left-hander Chris Murphy from Triple-A and optioning righty Kaleb Ort to Worcester.

Originally a sixth-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, Murphy was promoted to Worcester last summer and added to the 40-man roster this past offseason to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft. The 25-year-old has struggled so far this season, posting an 8.35 ERA over nine starts, but fared better out of the bullpen his last time out, throwing three scoreless innings on June 1 against Louisville.

Prior to the game Murphy told reporters that he got the call Monday, which happened to be his birthday and was about as memorable a present he’ll ever get. Murphy did not pitch in Tuesday’s game but is expected to make his big league debut in the coming days.

Chang resumes rehab assignment

Infielder Yu Chang (left hamate fracture) restarted his rehab assignment in the minors on Tuesday, batting third while serving as designated hitter for the WooSox.

Chang started his rehab assignment on May 26 with Portland but was shut down for 11 days due to lingering soreness. He last played in the majors on April 24 and could potentially return next week when the Red Sox open their upcoming homestand against the Colorado Rockies.

Adam Duvall (left wrist fracture) also batted second and played center field for the WooSox on Tuesday. Cora told reporters Duvall will most likely be activated on Friday, the first day he is eligible to come off the 60-day IL, in time for the start of this weekend’s New York Yankees series.

Baseball’s winningest team arrived last Wednesday night, enjoyed a day off on Thursday and were rained out on Friday before finally beginning their four-game set against the American League East’s last-place Red Sox.

To paraphrase Bill Hader’s iconic “Saturday Night Live” character Stefon, this series had everything: a heartbreaking injured list stint for Chris Sale (left shoulder inflammation), the club’s first scheduled doubleheader since 1978, a slew of defensive blunders, a surprising roster move, and an ejection.

But most of all, it was a long weekend of countless brutal reminders that whether they scrimp or spend, this team still keeps landing at the bottom of the standings, craning up at a frugal-but-ferocious Florida team.

The Rays were already the only team in baseball with 40 wins when they came to town and took three of four games. With a 4-1 loss on Monday evening that included a late-inning ejection for Alex Cora, the Red Sox are 30-30 on the season.

It was surprising to see Cora get so worked up when he did, after Rafael Devers struck out looking and Alex Verdugo got thrown at at second to end the bottom of the eighth. Both were accurate calls, but following the game, the manager explained that his frustration with home-plate umpire Chris Guccione had been building up over the course of the contest.

“I think he missed one the previous inning that he really missed,” Cora elaborated. “It changed the complexity of the at-bat, the first pitch to Ref (Rob Refsnyder), it was a pitch violation. We’re gonna play this game of the clock, and this stuff, we gotta call it the right way.

“It was a ball. Rule-wise, it was a ball. That’s why I was so upset,” he continued. “And that one is not about judging or strike zone or whatever, it’s the rule. And if the clock is at zero, it’s a ball.”

“My kids are gonna see me get thrown out, make sure they see it the right way,” he added with a rueful smile.

It’s been a stretch of mostly, but not all bad news. After calling out his team and himself for poor defense over the weekend, Cora’s club fared better in that regard on Monday, highlighted by jaw-dropping plays from Verdugo and Kiké Hernández early in the game.

Back on the grass for the day, Hernández reminded fans why the Red Sox originally extended him to play centerfield this season. With a runner on in the top of the second, the utility-man made a stupendous leaping grab to rob Luke Raley of a 2-run homer. He tormented Raley again in the sixth, when he laid out for an impressive catch.

We'd like to report a robbery… pic.twitter.com/LIIG3ofgtQ

— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 5, 2023

DUUUUUDE@kikehndez | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/HZQ9ZYqAfD

— NESN (@NESN) June 5, 2023

With Trevor Story sidelined since January with internal brace surgery, the Red Sox had to pivot to Hernández as the primary shortstop. Two months into the season, he’s already played more than double his previous innings total at the position, and in 45 games (40 starts) at the position, made a league-leading 13 errors. His minus-9 Outs Above Average ranks second-worst among all qualified fielders in the majors.

Verdugo’s glove-work, on the other hand, has been strong this season; he entered Monday’s game in MLB’s 86th percentile in both OAA and Outfielder Jump, and 95th in arm strength. He continued making the case for his first Gold Glove in the top of the third, when he raced across right field and snatched a home run back from Francisco Mejía at the very inside corner of the Pesky Pole.

Unfortunately, pitching is a team’s first line of defense, and after getting off to a strong start, Brayan Bello unraveled in the fifth.

The 23-year-old right-hander began his afternoon with a 1-2-3 first inning, getting the Rays to strike out swinging for each out, all on different pitches. And though he didn’t get another strikeout between the second and fourth innings, he didn’t give the Rays many chances, either. Through four, the visitors had one walk and one hit, and by the end of the frame, Bello was the first Red Sox starter to make it through four consecutive scoreless innings against the Rays since April 10, when Nick Pivetta shut them out through five in their first meeting of the season.

But when the Rays did finally get to the Red Sox starter, they were relentless, albeit briefly. They tallied five hits and three runs against him before he finally got out of the fifth with a strikeout. He returned for the sixth, somewhat redeeming his outing with a quick, scoreless inning.

“He induced them to weak contact,” Cora said. “Overall, he threw the ball well, did a good job, a lot of swings-and-misses in the changeup.”

In a frustrating loss, there’s little consolation in knowing that it could’ve been much worse; the Rays were 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 on base. Other than Pivetta, who struggled with command and allowed a run, the bullpen held it down the rest of the way, giving the Red Sox time to mount a comeback.

The Boston bats had fewer chances, but squandered them all. Rays starter Shane McClanahan issued two walks within the first three batters he faced, only to have Rafael Devers bail him out by hitting into an inning-ending double play.

“We put pressure early on, we didn’t cash in,” the Red Sox skipper assessed frankly. “We haven’t got hits, we put in good at-bats. We walked four times today.

“We didn’t get the big hit, but I think the approach is the right one.”

Lately, “the approach” isn’t yielding the desired results. In 10 of their last 20 games, the Red Sox have scored no more than two runs, so just getting on the board feels like an achievement. They collected six hits and four walks, but went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, leaving six on base. Their only run of the day was Justin Turner’s solo homer into the Green Monster seats, the only home run by either team through the series.

The Red Sox head back out on the road a .500 team once again. In any other division, they’d be in fourth place or better, but here they stand.

“Are we great? No,” Cora said honestly. “Are we bad? No.”

In other words, .500.

Arroyo hasn’t played since May 6 in Philadelphia, when the Red Sox were 21-14. In 24 games since, they only added nine wins to their season total.

Over 27 games this season, Arroyo is hitting .257 with a .660 OPS, 19 hits, including five doubles and a home run, 12 runs, 11 RBI, a stolen base, four walks, and 17 strikeouts.

When healthy, Arroyo is capable of going on incredible offensive tears. He’d been on one before going on the IL; over his last 10 games, he went 10-for-23 (.435) with two doubles, his first home run of the season, eight runs, eight RBI, two walks, and just four strikeouts.

However, the infielder’s return comes at a surprising cost; as the corresponding move, the Red Sox designated Raimel Tapia for assignment.

Tapia appeared in 39 games, primarily coming off the bench. He also spent six games in the leadoff spot, going hitless with two strikeouts and a walk in the first at-bat of the game.

Overall, he hit a respectable .264 with a .701 OPS, but didn’t display the kind of power he showed off in spring training (or against the Red Sox during his Toronto Blue Jays days). He contributed some clutch hits, though, going 4-for-10 when batting with two outs and runners in scoring position.

While he expressed confidence in Jarren Duran, Alex Cora called the Tapia decision a “tough one.”

With Adam Duvall on the IL with a broken wrist in mid-April, Duran has assumed the bulk of the centerfield duties. After beginning the season in Triple-A, Duran is hitting .280 with a .777 OPS, 42 hits (including 15 doubles and three home runs) over 42 big-league games, but has been mired in a cold stretch of late.

“He’s been going through his struggles the last few weeks,” Cora said, but added, “We can’t just give up on him.”

But now, Duvall is targeting a return as early as the end of the week.

The Red Sox outfield is about to get a bit crowded.

Trevor Story, DH?

Trevor Story is progressing after his internal brace surgery in January, but the Red Sox are ready to consider having him make a partial return if it means getting him back sooner, rather than later.

On Monday, Cora provided an update that the 30-year-old infielder is now throwing 105 feet and taking batting practice at the team’s Fort Myers, Florida facility.

Most notably, the manager didn’t rule out Story coming back as the designated hitter first. He would join a list of notable hitters around the league who’ve suffered UCL injuries and returned to the plate before resuming defensive play; Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper each served as their team’s DH following Tommy John surgery.

Unfortunately, the Red Sox could use Story’s glove as much, if not more, than his bat at the moment. He finished 2022 with 10 Outs Above Average (T-9 among qualified MLB infielders), 8 Runs Prevented, and a career-best 81% success rate. He only made six errors in 94 games (92 starts).

Entering Monday, the team’s 39 errors tied for second-most in the majors, and they’re well below average in assists, put-outs, and double plays turned. Their 4.97 runs allowed per game is sixth-highest, their defensive efficiency rating tied for seventh-worst.

The infield, in particular, is something of a black hole, with minus-11 OAA and minus-8 Runs Prevented, both the fourth-worst marks in the majors.

A significant bulk of that burden belongs to Kiké Hernández, whose 13 errors are the most in the American League (no other player has more than eight). His minus-9 OAA is the second-worst mark among all major league qualified fielders, his minus-7 Runs Prevented tied for second-worst.

Getting Arroyo back will help somewhat; he’s in the 62nd percentile in Outs Above Average, and hasn’t made an error at any position this season. In 138 career games (1,054 2/3 innings) at second base, he’s only made one error.

Out west

The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to collect members of the team that bested them in the 2018 World Series.

On Monday, they signed Ryan Brasier to a minor league contract, a couple of weeks after the Red Sox DFA’ed and released the 35-year-old right-hander.

Brasier was key to Boston’s championship run five years ago, making nine relief appearances, including two against the Dodgers. He only allowed one earned run that October, in Game 1 of the World Series.

Other members of Boston’s last championship team to wear Dodger blue since 2018 are Craig Kimbrel, Joe Kelly, David Price, and of course, Mookie Betts.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox now have more members of the 2018 Dodgers than their own historic squad from that season: Hernández, Alex Verdugo, Justin Turner, and Kenley Jansen now call Fenway home, and Rafael Devers and Chris Sale are the last vestiges of Boston’s most recent championship season,

American League Beast

The AL East continues to be a juggernaut, in which you can have a winning record and still be in last place.

But despite their many injuries and woes, there is a small comfort in seeing the Red Sox handle their division rivals better than they did last year.

At home, anyway.

They’re 1-6 against their division on the road, but 7-3 against them at Fenway this season, including a series victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the first weekend of the season and a four-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays at the beginning of May; last year, they didn’t have two series victories against the division until the middle of August.

Looking ahead

The Red Sox may not have to face Aaron Judge in the Bronx this weekend.

Judge wowed fans with an outrageous catch at Dodger Stadium this weekend, but the dazzling moment may have lasting consequences for the reigning AL MVP. He sat out Sunday’s series finale with what could be a broken toe, and told reporters there’s a chance he could be headed to the IL. According to MLB’s Bryan Hoch, the slugger is expected to have X-rays, an MRI, or both when the Yankees return to New York.

After making league history last season by hitting 62 home runs to break Roger Maris’ single-season record, the 31-year-old slugger is threatening pitchers with a repeat performance this year. He leads the AL with 19 home runs (including 13 in 23 games since coming off the IL on May 9), and leads the majors with a .674 slugging percentage, 1.078 OPS, and 193 OPS+.

Then, in the hours that followed, those kids got to watch as the Red Sox delivered what could only be described as a Little League performance.

Over a stretch where the Red Sox have frequently shot themselves in the foot on defense, the club outdid itself with an embarrassing showing in a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The lowlight came on what started as a simple hit-and-run single in the top of the sixth, which quickly devolved into a full-fledged disaster. The slow chopper by Yandy Diaz bounced through the infield to Alex Verdugo in right, who nonchalantly returned it into the infield without realizing that Manuel Margot had already gone from first to third and was charging home.

By the time Enmanuel Valdez made the relay home it was already too late, so catcher Connor Wong tried to salvage the play by trying to throw out Diaz at second. His throw sailed into the outfield, and by the time the Red Sox tracked down the ball Diaz was already celebrating at home plate.

“I’ve seen that play too many times the last two years,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “You have to throw the ball to the right base, you have to back up, you cannot become a spectator, you’ve got places to go in every play in baseball. They had a great baseball play, took off, ground ball to second and that happened. It’s not good baseball, bottom line.”

If that play had been the lone hiccup in an otherwise clean game it would have been one thing, but the fact that it was the third major gaffe in a matter of innings made things that much more confounding.

The first miscue came in the top of the third, when Jarren Duran threw home on a Josh Lowe sacrifice fly despite having no chance of throwing out the speedy Yandy Diaz. That allowed Lowe to advance into scoring position, but fortunately Tanner Houck was able to get out of the inning without further incident.

The Red Sox weren’t so fortunate in the fourth. Houck allowed a leadoff single, a walk and then the Rays loaded the bases when Wong fielded a chopper and threw to third trying to nail the lead runner, but Justin Turner was late getting back to the bag. Margot then laced an RBI single to left, and a second run scored when Masataka Yoshida bobbled the ball and was slow getting it back in.

Cora lamented afterwards that these mental lapses keep happening more than a third of the way through the season, but he also took responsibility and vowed to correct them.

“In the end it’s on me. I’m the manager of this club, and we’ve been sloppy,” Cora said. “It’s not about pointing fingers, the roster is the roster and we have to play better baseball, but I’m the manager of this team and defensively we’re not good. We’re not.

“We’ll keep working, we’re going to show up early, we’re going to talk about the plays and we’re going to coach the players until we get it right,” Cora continued. “When? I don’t know. If it’s tomorrow it’s 59 games too late, but we’ve just got to keep going, keep going, keep going until we do it.”

Verdugo said afterwards that he got a late jump on the hit-and-run fiasco because he didn’t get a good read of the ball off the bat, and that he and Jarren Duran both subsequently got caught out of position when the ball came back into the outfield. He said Margot coming around to score from first was on him, and also that while it’s great for Cora and the coaches to take responsibility, it’s ultimately on the players to do their job and make the plays on the field.

“At the end of the day we are the players, we are the ones who have to go out there and make the play and get it done,” Verdugo said. “We can talk about it all we want but we’ve got to be better.”

Houck and the rest of the pitching staff didn’t do themselves any favors either, combining to walk five batters, four of whom would eventually come around to score. Houck allowed four runs over five innings, allowing five hits, four walks with six strikeouts, and Corey Kluber allowed two more over two innings before Kaleb Ort posted two perfect innings in his first big league outing since April 25.

Offensively, Verdugo enjoyed one of his best games of the season, ripping three leadoff extra-base hits on his way to a 3 for 5 showing. He had two doubles and a triple, all of which led off the inning, and scored both of Boston’s runs, the first on a Masataka Yoshida RBI single in the third and the second on a Rafael Devers sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Yoshida also finished 2 for 4 with three hard-hit balls, but the Red Sox couldn’t capitalize on enough chances and now find themselves 30-29 on the season and 11 games behind a Rays team that they’re only 1-6 against on the season so far.

“The difference between them and us right now? Base running, defense and throwing strikes,” Cora said. “That was the game today.”

Boston will look to salvage a series split in Monday’s makeup of Friday’s rainout. Brayan Bello (3-3, 3.89 ERA) will get the ball against Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan (8-1, 2.07) with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m.

The answer, it turns out, is a possible MLB All-Star.

Since working through his rough start Yoshida has emerged as one of the most productive outfielders in the American League. Entering Sunday Yoshida ranked second in the AL in batting average (.314) with seven home runs, 32 RBI and more walks (23) than strikeouts (22).

His .899 OPS also ranks fourth in the league among qualified outfielders, and over his past seven games Yoshida was 12 for 25 (.480) with five extra-base hits.

“His bat-to-ball skills always play, the discipline is always good, and it’s just part of the adjustment,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I’ve been saying it all along, the guy hits.”

Yoshida’s start has put him in rare company. According to the Red Sox communications staff Yoshida is one of only two players this century to have reached base 85+ times and struck out 25 or fewer times in their first 50 career games, the other being fellow Japanese sensation and future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki.

Yoshida has also reached base more times (87) in his first 50 career games than any Red Sox player in the live ball era, beating out Johnny Pesky (86, 1942), Walt Dropo (86, 1949-50), Ike Boone (85, 1923-24), Tom Oliver (83, 1930) and Ted Williams (82, 1939).

“He’s just a model of consistency,” said teammate Justin Turner. “He stays in the strike zone, uses the whole field, drives the ball, drives in runs, takes his walks. He does everything very, very well.”

Could Yoshida earn a trip to the All-Star Game in Seattle? He’ll face stiff competition. New York’s Aaron Judge, Houston’s Yordan Alvarez and Los Angeles’ Mike Trout are all probably locks, and Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena, Oakland’s Brent Rooker, Chicago’s Luis Robert Jr. and Texas’ Adolis Garcia are among a number of others who could make a strong argument for inclusion as well.

Regardless, the fact Yoshida is in the conversation at all in his first season of big league baseball speaks volumes for the type of hitter he is.

“He’s going to hit for average, he’s going to hit for power, he’s going to get on base, he’s going to walk, he’s not going to strike out,” Cora said. “This is who he is and we’re glad he’s here with us.”

Rodriguez to IL, Ort called up

The Red Sox replenished their depleted bullpen ahead of Sunday’s game, placing lefty Joely Rodriguez on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation and optioning lefty Ryan Sherriff to Triple-A while calling up righty Kaleb Ort and lefty Brennan Bernardino to fill their spots.

Ort last pitched in the big leagues on April 25, when he allowed four runs in the ninth inning of what wound up being a white knuckle 8-6 win over Baltimore. Since then he has posted a 2.45 ERA in eight appearances with the WooSox.

Bernardino rejoined the Red Sox on Saturday as the 27th man for the doubleheader and pitched two innings in the night game. Sherriff also pitched a combined two innings with 42 pitches across both games of the doubleheader and likely would not have been available Sunday, and Rodriguez felt his shoulder issue while warming up for the second game.

“Hopefully something similar to Chris (Martin) early on where it’s not more than 15 days,” said Cora, who added there aren’t plans for Rodriguez to get an MRI at this time. “He felt well throughout the day and when he got on the mound to get ready he felt it.”

Crawford a rotation candidate

With Chris Sale on the injured list and Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta both in the bullpen the Red Sox currently have only four starters stretched out and ready to go. With the club currently two days into a stretch of playing 13 games in 12 days they will need a No. 5 starter to fill in at some point, and Cora indicated that Kutter Crawford could get the nod.

“There’s a chance Kutter may start the next one,” Cora said. “He went three yesterday, he can go four, maybe five, but we have to give him enough rest in between, that’s the most important thing.”

Brayan Bello will start Monday’s series finale against Tampa Bay and James Paxton will pitch Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians, but the rest of that series is still TBD.

Infielder Christian Arroyo (right hamstring strain) also rejoined the team on Saturday and the club is still working to determine his next steps. Fellow infielder Yu Chang (left hamate fracture) hit off the Trajekt pitching machine on Saturday and the hope is for him to restart his rehab assignment Tuesday in Worcester. Adam Duvall (fractured left wrist) is expected to play a few more rehab games before he’s eligible to be activated from the 60-day IL on Friday.

Two of Boston’s top prospects in Worcester, infielder David Hamilton (left thumb sprain) and outfielder Wilyer Abreu (right hamstring strain) were both placed on the 7-day IL on Sunday. Both players are on Boston’s 40-man roster and have enjoyed strong seasons at Triple-A, with Hamilton batting .262 with 11 home runs and 26 stolen bases and Abreu getting on base at a .379 clip with eight home runs.

And yet there he was Friday, sitting at a podium ruminating on yet another injury setback.

Sale is hurt again, this time with a shoulder issue that cut his Thursday start short after only 59 pitches. The injury seemingly came out of nowhere — he said it popped up during the second inning and there’d been no indication anything was wrong leading up to the game — but for a guy who has already endured Tommy John surgery, a stress fracture in his rib, a broken pinky and a broken wrist, it’s put him back in a familiar place.

“Kind of a gut punch. I worked really hard, a lot of people worked really hard to get me to this spot,” Sale said on Friday. “It’s tough being a disappointment again.”

Officially on the 15-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation, Sale’s prognosis is still uncertain. He underwent an MRI and CT scan and hopes to have a clearer picture on the exact nature of his injury later this week.

Maybe the issue could turn out to be minor and Sale could be back after missing two starts. Maybe he could be out a few months or for the rest of the season. Either way, this latest setback is a cruel blow for a pitcher who thought he was finally over the hump.

“It’s disappointing man,” Sale said, taking a long pause to collect his thoughts. “I hate feeling like this. I started having fun playing baseball again, and now I’m back to not having fun.”

Heading into spring training the hope was that Sale could get back to being an ace who could carry the Red Sox pitching staff back into the playoffs, and through the first third of the season he was exactly that. Sale made his first 11 starts, and while the first few were pretty rocky, he eventually rounded into form and was among the top contenders for AL Pitcher of the Month for May.

From April 30 onwards Sale went 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA while striking out 41 batters against just five walks over 36 innings. Opposing batters were hitting .191 against him, and he was also pitching deep into games, at one point going four consecutive starts with 6+ innings and 98+ pitches.

Though the Red Sox were understandably cautious early on, often giving Sale an extra day of rest between starts, he was getting to a point where the club was growing more comfortable letting him off the leash.

“Taking care of him, that’s out the window,” Cora said on Tuesday when asked about the run Sale had been on. “Now we just let him go and hopefully he can go on one of those runs like ’17-’18 and carry this pitching staff all the way through some good things.”

Sale may yet have the opportunity to do so, but for now his season is in a holding pattern and the Red Sox are once again in limbo. The club already faces long odds competing in MLB’s toughest division, and with so much instability in the rotation as it is losing Sale again is a tremendous blow that won’t be easy for the Red Sox to overcome.

One thing Sale is sure about, however, is he isn’t going to let this setback break him.

“If there’s anything I can prove is it’s not going to keep me down,” Sale said. “This is obviously not where I want to be, but if there’s somebody out there watching, never give up. I’m going to keep rolling. I’ve been through the (expletive) and back, and I’m in the (expletive) again, and I’m going to be back.”

Could All-Star Game return to Fenway?

It’s no secret the Red Sox want to bring the All-Star Game back to Fenway Park. Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy has gone on record multiple times over the past year saying the club is lobbying to host again, and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said at the Winter Meetings that Boston is among the cities currently being considered.

This year’s All-Star Game is being held July 11 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle and the 2024 edition will be played at Globe Life Field, the new Texas Rangers ballpark. Three years down the road the 2026 All-Star Game will be held at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but so far the venue for the 2025 game or for 2027 and beyond haven’t been announced.

Will Fenway Park get the nod? The Red Sox have a strong case, but so do several others.

Since Fenway last hosted the All-Star Game in 1999 there are five clubs who have not hosted or are not currently scheduled to host an All-Star Game. Two of those clubs, the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays, are not in consideration due to their respective stadium issues, but the Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays have all waited longer and can make compelling cases of their own.

The Atlanta Braves also last hosted in 2000 and were scheduled to host the 2021 game at their new ballpark, but the game was moved in response to Georgia’s controversial new voting laws. It’s unclear how that issue might impact Atlanta’s future All-Star Game odds, but historically MLB has used the Midsummer Classic to showcase its newest venues and brightest stars.

Between the shiny new Truist Park and a roster overflowing with young talent, the Braves have both.

The Red Sox do have a lot going for them, chiefly the transformation of Fenway Park under John Henry’s ownership group. When the All-Star Game last came to Boston in 1999 there were no Green Monster seats, no right field roof deck and no Truly Terrace, and over the past two decades Fenway Sports Group has invested millions into revitalizing the century-old facility to ensure it remains a vibrant destination for generations to come.

Those efforts have also extended to the area surrounding the park, and in the coming years the Red Sox hope to conduct a major redevelopment of the neighborhood similar to what the Cubs did with the Wrigleyville area. That project, dubbed “Fenway Corners,” is currently being reviewed by the Boston Planning and Development Agency and if approved could be well underway by the time a future All-Star Game returns to the city.

Of course, the Wrigleyville transformation is already complete and Wrigley Field has undergone impressive renovations of its own since it last hosted in 1990. Toronto’s Rogers Centre, which last hosted in 1991, is also undergoing massive new upgrades, and Baltimore’s Camden Yards remains one of baseball’s most beautiful parks even 30 years after it first hosted in 1993.

Needless to say the Red Sox have some tough competition, but whether in 2025 or after Fenway Park should be well positioned to host its fourth All-Star Game at some point before the end of the decade.

Bally Sports forfeits Padres broadcast rights

The San Diego Padres have several of the most exciting stars in baseball, among them Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts.

What they no longer have, however, is a local broadcast partner.

Diamond Sports Group, a Sinclair subsidiary which operates a family of regional sports networks under the Bally Sports brand, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in March and thrust the 14 MLB clubs whose games it broadcasts into a state of uncertainty. Diamond has continued broadcasting its partner clubs’ games while the bankruptcy proceedings play out, but recently the company missed a rights payment to the Padres, giving it until the end of a two-week grace period to pay or the Padres broadcast rights would revert back to the team.

That deadline passed on Tuesday, forcing MLB and the Padres to begin producing and distributing their games themselves.

“We have been preparing for this groundbreaking moment,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a press release following the announcement. “The Padres are excited to be the first team to partner with Major League Baseball to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option through MLB.TV without blackouts while preserving our in-market distribution through traditional cable and satellite television providers. Our fans will now have unprecedented access to Padres games through both digital and traditional platforms throughout San Diego and beyond.”

Though MLB and the Padres have enacted contingency plans to ensure games are still widely available — and fans may not notice dramatic changes other than a different channel number given that broadcasters Don Orsillo, Mark Grant and Bob Scanlan are all employed by the team, not Bally Sports — this is still a dramatic and unprecedented development, especially for such a high-profile team in the middle of its season.

So, what happens now?

In the short term the Padres shouldn’t experience catastrophic financial losses. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said at a hearing Wednesday that the league will backstop the club and any others who find themselves in a similar situation up to 80% of whatever rights fees they were due.

That will only be the case for this year, however, and it’s not clear how MLB is going to make up the difference in rights fees over the long-haul given the same changing market realities that have made regional sports networks less profitable and contributed to Diamond declaring bankruptcy in the first place.

What is clear, this is only the beginning, and while the Padres are the first club to confront the upcoming broadcast upheaval head-on, they likely won’t be the last.

Eovaldi, Wacha named Pitchers of the Month

In news that no doubt raised eyebrows across New England, MLB announced this week that former Red Sox starters Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Wacha have been named AL and NL Pitchers of the Month, respectively.

Eovaldi, now with the Texas Rangers, went 4-0 with a 0.96 ERA and one complete game across five starts in May. Over 37.2 innings he allowed four earned runs while holding opposing batters to a .178 average, and at one point he strung together 29.2 consecutive scoreless innings.

Wacha, meanwhile, went 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA in five starts with the San Diego Padres. He allowed three runs over 32 innings and led the majors in ERA, WHIP (0.72), opposing batting average (.147) and opposing OPS (.405) for the month.

Both pitchers spent last season with Boston and left the Red Sox in free agency over the offseason after signing multi-year deals with their new clubs. The Red Sox instead signed Corey Kluber, who was recently removed from the starting rotation due to poor performance.

Keegan dominating first year of pro ball

Ex-Central Catholic star Dom Keegan is having a monster start to his first full year of pro ball. Entering the weekend he was leading the Carolina League with a .341 average while ranking top three in on-base percentage (.427) and slugging percentage (.522), and he’s also hit four home runs with 25 RBI in 41 games with the Charleston RiverDogs (Tampa Bay, Low-A). The Methuen native, a fourth-round pick out of Vanderbilt last summer, also leads all catchers, both in the majors and minors, with four triples on the year.

Shortly after arriving at the park Turner attended Rob Refsnyder’s press conference announcing his new contract extension. During his remarks Refsnyder revealed Turner was the only player he confided in while the negotiations were ongoing, and that ever since his arrival from Los Angeles Turner has completely changed the Red Sox clubhouse for the better.

A couple of hours later, Turner led the charge as the Red Sox came from behind to beat the first-place Tampa Bay Rays 8-5, delivering the decisive blow with a bases-loaded, three-run double.

“He’s a good player, he’s a good influence on the kids,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose club went on to lose the nightcap 4-2 to split the day-night doubleheader. “We fell behind today and the way we did it wasn’t a good taste, but he kept going in the dugout, kept pushing them and that helped us out to win.”

Turner’s big hit with two outs in the bottom of the sixth turned a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead and sparked what wound up being a six-run rally. Masataka Yoshida followed him with an RBI double and Jarren Duran completed the outburst with an RBI single.

From that point the bullpen was able to take care of business, and Kenley Jansen slammed the door with three strikeouts in the ninth to record his 12th save of the year.

“Every time I came in the dugout it’s like ‘let’s go, let’s get another guy on, let’s build an inning,’ and we’ve been really good at that all year,” Turner said. “We did a good job today of pushing and pushing and pushing and then eventually you see the six.”

The Red Sox trailed as much as 4-0, with the Rays tagging Garrett Whitlock for three runs in the second thanks largely to the first of Kiké Hernández’s two errors. With two on and two out Hernández dove to stop a ground ball off the bat of Christian Bethancourt but then flung the ball past second baseman Pablo Reyes, allowing a run to score, and Yandy Diaz then took advantage by ripping a two-run double.

Tampa Bay added its fourth run on a Harold Ramirez sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Whitlock finished his outing with a somewhat misleading four runs allowed over 4.2 innings. Whitlock allowed six hits and two walks, struck out five and threw 97 pitches, 69 for strikes.

Largely stagnant through the first half of the game, Boston’s bats came to life from the fifth inning on. The Red Sox got on the board when Reese McGuire led off the fifth with a double and came around to score on an Alex Verdugo single.

After that the club loaded the bases and couldn’t cash in, but when they came up again in the sixth the offense quickly picked up where it left off. Hernández singled, McGuire walked, Pablo Reyes hit an RBI single and Rafael Devers walked to reload the bases, setting the stage for Turner’s big blow.

“That’s the beauty of putting the ball in play, there’ve been so many games against them that it’s 15 strikeouts, six fly balls and you don’t put pressure on the defense,” Cora said. “We put the ball in play, took our walks, ran the bases well, it was a total team effort.”

Jansen takes loss in second outing of day

With the night game tied 2-2 in the ninth and the bullpen running on fumes, Alex Cora handed the ball to closer Kenley Jansen for the second time in a single day.

Though Jansen got the save earlier, his command wasn’t as strong the second time around and he wound up allowing the go-ahead two-run double to Harold Ramirez, ultimately taking the loss when the Red Sox’ ninth-inning rally fell just short in the 4-2 defeat.

Jansen said afterwards he’s pitched multiple times in a day before and felt great physically, he just didn’t get the job done.

“I did it before, I think twice,” said Jansen, who threw 43 pitches combined across Saturday’s doubleheader. “But definitely feel good, that’s a tough team we played, and it doesn’t feel great but just got to be accountable of it, keep your chest up, keep your head up and move forward.”

The Red Sox brought the winning run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth after Rafael Devers was hit by a pitch and Masataka Yoshida drew a walk. Jarren Duran then blooped a sinking liner into center field, but Rays outfielder Jose Siri was able to make an incredible diving catch to end the game.

Up until Ramirez’s game-winning hit the Red Sox were able to piece together a strong bullpen showing even with most of the club’s top arms unavailable. Kutter Crawford got the start for Boston, allowing one run on three innings, and Ryan Sherriff twice stranded the bases loaded over his 1.2 innings, first helping clean up a mess left after Justin Garza walked two to lead off the fifth and then again in the sixth after getting in a jam himself.

Tampa Bay took an early 1-0 lead after Yandy Diaz grounded out to score Manuel Margot from third in the top of the third inning, and after Triston Casas’ RBI triple tied it in the fourth the Rays retook the lead on an RBI double by Jose Siri in the sixth off Sherriff.

The Rays could have gotten a lot more, but Sherriff keeping it 2-1 proved crucial in the seventh when Rafael Devers came to the plate with two outs and Connor Wong at first. Devers skied a pop-up, but between the driving wind and the drizzling rain Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe couldn’t make the play, and Wong wound up hustling all the way around the bases to tie the game.

From there lefty Brennan Bernardino, fresh up from Triple-A as the 27th man for the doubleheader, posted two scoreless innings of relief to keep the Rays at bay. Joely Rodriguez was supposed to have entered the game in the later innings as well, but Cora said he felt something in his bicep while warming up in the bullpen and was shut down to be evaluated further.

That left Jansen as the only other arm available, though if the game had gone to extra innings Nick Pivetta would have come on for the 10th in what would have been his third appearance in four days.

Rodriguez’s status going forward is uncertain and it’s possible Bernardino may remain with the club if Rodriguez needs to go on the injured list.

Shortstop woes continue

Kiké Hernández was an excellent defensive center fielder and has enjoyed a solid track record at second base, but his run as Boston’s starting shortstop has not gone well.

The veteran infielder made two more throwing errors early in Saturday’s early game against the Tampa Bay Rays, bringing him to an MLB-worst 13 on the year. He’s been particularly erratic recently, having now made four errors since Tuesday alone.

While ordinarily giving extra outs to a team like the Tampa Bay Rays would be a recipe for disaster, the Red Sox offense made sure the early miscues wouldn’t be the difference this time.

Hernandez did not start the night game and came on as a late defensive replacement at short without incident.

With the split the Red Sox finish the day 30-28. Tanner Houck (3-4, 5.30 ERA) will take the mound against Tampa Bay’s Taj Bradley (3-2, 3.60) on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m.

Now the 32-year-old’s future in Boston is secured.

The Red Sox announced Saturday they have signed Refsnyder to a one-year contract extension through 2024 with a club option for 2025. Refsnyder will make $1.85 million in 2024 and $2 million should the club pick up his 2025 option, and he will have an opportunity to earn performance bonuses and escalators as well.

Since his arrival in Boston, Refsnyder has emerged as a reliable and productive right-handed bat off the bench. Entering Saturday he was batting .284 with one home run and 17 RBI in 33 games, and he’s been an absolute menace against lefties, batting .365 with a .949 OPS so far this season.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom also praised Refsnyder for his consistency, focus and contributions behind the scenes, all of which were reasons the club felt comfortable offering him the extension.

“The body of work since he put on our uniform just speaks for itself,” Bloom said. “Not everyone is able to show that consistency even when the playing time is inconsistent. It’s easy to take for granted and we shouldn’t.”

A fifth-round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 2012, Refsnyder made his MLB debut at Fenway Park in 2015 and spent most of the next seven years scratching and clawing to stay in the big leagues. By the time he came to Boston the Red Sox were his sixth big league team, and at that point he had already spent significant time bouncing back and forth from the minor leagues.

“I’ve had this game almost taken from me a couple of times based on performance and I sit here very grateful, very humbled, thankful,” Refsnyder said. “I get to play in the greatest baseball city and the greatest ballpark, and I definitely don’t lose sight of that.”

Refsnyder said that when he didn’t make the Red Sox big league roster out of spring training in 2022 he began contemplating a shift to a front office role. By that point he’d started a family and wasn’t sure he wanted to keep forcing them to move around, but the moment that changed his career was a hitting lesson he had with Red Sox hitting coach Peter Fatse towards the end of camp.

“I’m very thankful that I wasn’t stubborn and went home and decided to work with him, because that hitting lesson alone really changed the trajectory of my career and my swing path, my game and the things that I’m comfortable doing,” Refsynder said. “A lot of credit goes to Fatse.”

Refsnyder eventually earned a call-up and quickly established himself as one of Boston’s most productive players. That performance helped earn him a $1.2 million big league deal for 2023, and Bloom said they began discussing the possibility of an extension as far back as spring training.

Those talks came to fruition this week, and Refsnyder said getting the chance to continue his career in Boston after everything he’s been through is particularly special.

“Something I’ll definitely celebrate with my wife, hopefully here on an off day hopefully our babysitter is available and we can get a glass of wine and reminisce on some of those highs and lows,” he said.

Chang may resume rehab assignment

Infielder Yu Chang (left hamate fracture) may resume his rehab assignment as soon as this Tuesday in Worcester, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Saturday.

Chang, who has been out since April 24 after breaking a bone in his hand swinging the bat, originally began his rehab assignment on May 26 but was pulled back after experiencing soreness during his outing with the Portland Sea Dogs. Prior to his injury Chang was settling in as an excellent defensive presence at shortstop, and given Kiké Hernández’s recent struggles his absence has been sorely felt.

In other injury news: Christian Arroyo (right hamstring strain) flew back to Boston on Saturday and the club plans to discuss his next steps upon his return. John Schreiber (right teres major strain) has not yet begun throwing but may start playing catch Sunday or Monday. Trevor Story (right elbow rehab) is still hitting and throwing in Fort Myers and may rejoin the club for a few days after the upcoming road trip to check in.

Alfaro released, Gomez promoted

The Red Sox have granted catcher Jorge Alfaro his release after the veteran exercised a June 1 opt-out in his contract, the club announced on Saturday.

In addition, Rio Gomez, son of the late ESPN baseball reporter Pedro Gomez, has been promoted to Triple-A Worcester.

Alfaro, who has spent the season in Triple-A so far after competing for a big league catching job in the spring, was leading the WooSox in batting with a .320 average and 56 hits to go along with six home runs, 13 doubles and 30 RBI in 43 games. The veteran of seven big league seasons will now have an opportunity to sign with another organization and presumably get a chance to play in the majors again.

Gomez, a 28-year-old left-handed pitcher, was a 2017 36th-round pick out of the University of Arizona and is now in his seventh year with the Red Sox organization. He has posted a 5.18 ERA in 60 games at Double-A since 2021 and earlier this year he took part in the World Baseball Classic as part of Team Colombia.

The game was called at 8:22 after a rain delay of one hour and 12 minutes, which was prompted by severe thunderstorms that moved into the Fenway Park area right around when the game was originally scheduled to begin.

Garrett Whitlock, who was originally scheduled to pitch Friday night, will now pitch Game 1 on Saturday, and Game 2’s starter is still undecided. Tanner Houck will start Sunday and Brayan Bello will take the mound on Monday.

Tampa Bay will send reliever Trevor Kelley to the mound as an opener in Game 1 and Tyler Glasnow will start Game 2. Taj Bradley is still expected to pitch Sunday and Monday’s starter hasn’t been announced.

The postponement comes at a uniquely inopportune time in the schedule.

In order to create space for an extra off-day on the calendar, the Red Sox and Rays were already set to play a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday. The clubs will play at 1:10 and 6:10 p.m., and originally they would have wrapped up their series on Sunday at 1:35 before getting an off day on Monday.

Now, instead of flying to Cleveland early for the start of their week-long road trip, the Red Sox will fly out after their Monday afternoon game and most likely arrive in Cleveland early Tuesday morning. Starting Saturday the Red Sox are in line to play 13 games in 12 days through the next off day on Thursday, June 15, and after Tampa Bay and Cleveland they’ll face the New York Yankees in the Bronx and Colorado Rockies at home.

There is also inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday in Boston, so if either of those games are rained out too the next logical rain date would be the clubs’ mutual off day on Monday, Sept. 25, which is right before Tampa Bay is next scheduled to come to Boston for the season’s penultimate series.

The Red Sox confirmed Friday that Sale is headed back to the 15-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation and that righty Corey Kluber has been activated from the paternity leave list to fill his spot.

Sale, who missed most of the last three seasons due to a series of injuries, bounced back from a couple of rough early starts to put together a fantastic month of May and was finally starting to look like his old dominant self.

But now his future is again shrouded in uncertainty.

“I felt like I was over the hump, I really did. I felt like I was back to being myself,” Sale said. “And for something like this to happen is obviously deflating.”

Sale left Thursday’s start after 59 pitches, coming out in the fourth inning after his velocity noticeably dipped over the course of the game. He did not speak to the media postgame but called an impromptu press conference shortly before Friday’s original first pitch time and explained that he didn’t want to overshadow a great team win but also didn’t want to leave people hanging once he actually had some information to share.

“I didn’t want to completely leave you guys in the dark, I owe it to you guys, I owe it to our fans to at least show face,” Sale said. “Unfortunately that’s all I have, a little bit of information.”

Sale explained that he began feeling discomfort after making a pitch in the second inning and that the issue progressively got worse from there. He has since undergone an MRI and a CT scan and hopes to have more clarity on the exact nature of his injury and his recovery timetable at some point in the next week.

Though his tone was notably dejected throughout his remarks, Sale did provide an optimistic view of the injury’s severity.

“This isn’t anything that’s going to require any procedure I don’t think,” Sale said. “It’s just going to take time.”

Over his last six starts dating back to April 30, Sale was 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 41 strikeouts against only five walks over 36 innings. His ERA for the season still stands at 4.58, but that was mainly because of a couple of rough outings early on as Sale was still getting settled after so much lost time.

Put simply, he was getting back to being the ace the Red Sox hoped he could be, but now the club will again have to make due without him for at least the next two weeks, if not longer.

Arroyo to shortstop?

Christian Arroyo, who has been on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain since May 7, is expected to return to Boston on Saturday so he and the club can determine his plan going forward.

By the looks of it, that plan could involve Arroyo playing some shortstop.

Arroyo started at shortstop in his final rehab game with Worcester on Friday in Louisville, and Cora said that once he is activated they could use him at the position in the big leagues, too.

Given his injury history, is that a good idea? Cora suggested they don’t have any other choice.

“We need versatility in that spot, he has to play second, short, third, he has to move around with where we’re at roster-wise right now,” Cora said. “Things have changed from early in the season and versatility in his role now is very important.”

Outfielder Adam Duvall (fractured left wrist) played outfield for Worcester and will remain with the team for now as he continues working his way back. Duvall is eligible to come off the 60-day IL this coming Friday.

The Red Sox also announced Tanner Houck will start Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader against Tampa Bay, but they have not determined who will start the nightcap and it will depend in large part on how Friday played out.

‘Baseball is the best!’

In recognition of Lou Gehrig Day, the baseball world came together Friday to honor MLB reporter and researcher Sarah Langs, who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 2021 and has since used her platform to raise awareness and money for ALS research.

Renowned for her bottomless well of baseball knowledge, relentless positivity in the face of horrible circumstances and her “baseball is the best” catchphrase, the 31-year-old has been subject of a litany of tributes from across the game since announcing her diagnosis last fall, and Friday the Red Sox offered their support by providing “baseball is the best” T-shirts to media members and team staff.

Alex Cora, who wore his shirt to his pregame press conference, also gave Langs a shoutout to close out his remarks.

“I had the pleasure of working with her in ESPN, I respect all of you and I know you know baseball, but wow, what a mind,” Cora said. “The way she goes about it, great teammate, smart baseball woman, I know we’re all fighting with her, so Sarah, this is for you.”

Aaron Buckley, an 18-year-old lifelong Red Sox fanatic, became the man of the night when he grabbed Connor Wong’s two-run homer in the first row atop the Green Monster during the eighth inning of Thursday’s 8-2 win against Cincinnati.

“I definitely got some height on it,” Buckley told the Herald on Friday. “I just kind of jumped up and threw my glove up there, and I think I just put it in the right spot. There wasn’t too much time to think.”

Before the magical moment, Buckley had already been standing up, since the Red Sox had put the game away by scoring four runs in the eighth, which he said helped make the difference.

Kike Hernandez hit a solo blast to the Monster seats an inning earlier to give the Red Sox a one-run lead at the time, 2-1. The ball landed a few sections away from Buckley.

“It was more like, ‘Wow, that ball got out of here quick, so I have to be ready if something is coming near me,’” Buckley said of his mindset that helped him catch not just Wong’s dinger but also fame from Red Sox Nation.

Fenway Park hosted a 20th-anniversary celebration Thursday of the Monster seats, which made their debut during the 2003 season. Buckley, earlier on in the evening, gave fist bumps to NESN broadcasters Dave O’Brien, Tim Wakefield and Kevin Youkilis, who called the game several sections away instead of in the broadcast booth.

“Connor Wong will touch them all, and the catch made!,” O’Brien called. “It is a great night to be in the Monster seats!”

Soon, the WooSox Twitter account posted, “Connor Wong  ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ TO THE WOOSOX BAT BOY!!!!!! no, seriously. our bat boy just caught Connor Wong’s home run.”

Buckley’s phone blew up with text messages.

“I was finishing up all the high fives around me and stuff, and I already had multiple texts about ‘Nice catch,’ sending me the video of it from their tv,” he said. “It really hasn’t stopped.”

Buckley was born three weeks after the Red Sox broke the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ by winning the 2004 World Series, breaking their 86-year drought. The first Red Sox championship he remembers is when they won in 2013, also against St. Louis.

Buckley and his family used to travel to Fenway from their home in Hopedale, near Worcester, once a year. But now that he has his drivers license, he goes to games more often. Thursday marked his first time sitting atop the Monster.

“I would go for any seat anywhere,” Buckley said. “I just love being in the ballpark, but I’ve always said if there’s one seat in sports that I’d like to sit in, it’s the Monster.”

The first-year bat boy for the WooSox will be attending Dean College in the fall for sports broadcasting, and he said he hopes he can keep his summer job through college.

Buckley attended Thursday’s game with his younger brother, getting the tickets as a gift after graduating from Blackstone Valley Tech in Upton two weeks ago.

“It was awesome being able to share that moment with him,” Buckley said of his embrace with his brother after the catch of the night. “We will remember that for the rest of our lives.”

“Between the WooSox job and everything that happened last night, I’m living the dream.”

Unfortunately, the victory is bittersweet, overshadowed by Chris Sale leaving his start early with left shoulder soreness.

The game began as a pitchers’ duel, with Sale and Reds starter Hunter Greene combining for 12 strikeouts over the first three frames. After allowing a leadoff single, Sale got three consecutive strikeouts to end the first inning, then set down the Reds 1-2-3 in the second, including back-to-back swinging strikeouts for the second and third outs.

Sale scuffled in the top of the third, allowing back-to-back one-out doubles to give the Reds a 1-0 lead, but settled back down and got the next two outs.

It was the top of the fourth when things took a concerning turn for the southpaw. After another set of back-to-back doubles, Alex Cora and the team’s athletic trainer, Masai Takahashi, came out to check on Sale, as did several of his teammates around the diamond.

“He’s going to keep going until he breaks,” Kiké Hernández told WEEI after the game, describing how adamant Sale was about wanting to stay in the game.

But after fending off his coach and manager, Sale issued a walk. The second time around, the decision was no longer up to him. Cora and Takahashi came back out, and returned to the dugout with Sale in tow, covering his face with his glove to hide his emotion.

There’s no denying how upsetting this turn of events is for Sale, who was finally mounting a legitimate comeback after missing most of the last three seasons with an avalanche of injuries and surgeries. And after getting off to a rocky start to the season, he’d begun to look like the Sale of yore; entering Thursday night, he’d posted a 2.91 ERA over his last seven starts, and was coming off a 2.42 ERA in his four May games.

With that uncertainty hanging over their heads, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the Red Sox fold. They’d already been swept at home by the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals this season, and lost the first two games against the Reds.

Instead, the bullpen took up the mantle and the bats came back from an early 1-0 deficit to score eight runs, six of them in the penultimate inning.

Justin Garza, Josh Winckowski, Nick Pivetta and Chris Martin combined for 4 1/3 innings of 2-hit, 1-run ball.

After the Reds re-tied the game in the top of the eighth, the Red Sox roared back in the bottom of the inning. Cincinnati reliever Kevin Herget began the inning by walking Alex Verdugo, who promptly scored the go-ahead run on Rafael Devers’ 15th double of the season.

Justin Turner followed with a single, and advanced to third as Masataka Yoshida reached on a fielder’s choice and Devers was tagged out at home. With runners on second and third, Herget opted to intentionally walk Jarren Duran, loading the bases.

That’s when things unraveled for the Reds righty. A balk made it a 4-2 lead, Hernández’s single pushed it to 6-2, and Connor Wong sealed the deal with a two-run homer.

As he’d already begun warming up to close out a much closer game, Kenley Jansen took over for the ninth with a six-run cushion, and got the job done.

A commanding victory gives the Red Sox a bit of momentum as they brace themselves for the weekend’s four-game series against the 40-18 Tampa Bay Rays.

But until there are more answers about Sale, no one will rest easy. He was unavailable to the media following the game. He’ll have an MRI on Friday, and the Red Sox will take it from there.

Asked how concerned he is, Cora would only say, “We’ll see.”

Entering Thursday night’s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds, Boston was 0-8 against that division.

In their second series of the season, they allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates to sweep them at Fenway Park for the first time in franchise history.

But in Boston’s defense, their May series against the St. Louis Cardinals could’ve easily gone very differently. They carried a lead into the ninth inning in the series opener, only to have Kenley Jansen blow the save and complete a loss. Likewise in the second game, when Chris Sale’s eight-inning, one-run gem fell apart when Jansen again struggled.

The Cards came to town 13-25, and left with a new lease on life; the Red Sox haven’t exactly been the same since. Now, they were two games in the hole against the Reds, who entered this series 24-29.

Why can’t the Red Sox, who’ve been a winning team for most of the season, figure out the NL Central?

Opting out

Jorge Alfaro exercised his opt-out on Thursday, putting the Red Sox on the clock.

The club has 48 hours to add the 30-year-old catcher to the roster, or they must grant him his release.

Alfaro is hitting .320/.366/.520 with two triples, six home runs, 13 doubles in Triple-A Worcester this season, but although Alex Cora praised his performance, he reiterated his confidence in the big-league club’s current catching tandem, Connor Wong and Reese McGuire.

“Right now, we’re very comfortable with Reese and Wong,” the manager said Wednesday. “There’s 29 other teams out there, they might have a chance.”

“In a selfish way, hopefully nobody wants him. As a person and as a player, I would love him to be in the big leagues, either with us or somebody else, but this is where we’re at right now. We’re very comfortable with these two guys.”

Injury updates

Yu Chang is improving after pressing pause on his hitting program, and will attempt to resume hitting on Friday.

Christian Arroyo’s rehab stint with Triple-A Worcester continues on Thursday night, and he could be activated before next week. Adam Duvall has the night off after back-to-back rehab games, also with the WooSox. The earliest he can be activated is June 9.

Next up

The Red Sox are preparing to host the most formidable team in the American League, though how does one really prepare to face the only team with 40 wins?

Atop the East, the Tampa Bay Rays are 40-18, an eye-popping .690 win percentage, including 26-6 at Tropicana Field. Boston’s only hope is that its propensity for winning at home (15-13) will coalesce with the Rays’ 14-12 road record.

The four-game set includes a Saturday doubleheader. Though doubleheaders aren’t uncommon, the upcoming pair is unique, even if it won’t feel different. This twofer is Boston’s first scheduled doubleheader since 1978.

Tanner Houck will start one of the doubleheader games, and Cora says it’s possible Corey Kluber will be pulled from the bullpen to take the other. He’s on the Paternity List after he and his wife welcomed a new baby.

Until 12 p.m. on June 22, fans can vote five times per 24 hours to decide which players will advance to the second round, which determines the starters for each team, also by fan vote. The first round will also award the player who receives the most votes in their league with automatic entry into the starting nine at their usual position.

Fans can essentially vote for anyone; they can even write in players. In 2018, Dustin Pedroia was on the ballot, despite only playing three games all season. Adam Duvall only played eight games before fracturing his left wrist, but Red Sox fans may write him into their ballots, if they so choose.

Therein lies the problem with the annual midsummer event. Fans, by definition, are biased towards their favorite players and teams, and often vote loyally, even if the player is undeserving of All-Star honors. Facts and figures will be disregarded, superseded by favoritism.

But from an actual performance standpoint, do the Red Sox actually have any All-Stars this year? And how do they stack up against their competition?

It’s easy to rule out the majority of the roster, but here are four of Boston’s more likely contenders (all stats entering Thursday):

Alex Verdugo

Verdugo is one of Boston’s most legitimate candidates. Among qualified American League outfielders, he leads the pack with 16 doubles.

With his fellow qualified AL right fielders, he ranks first in hits (60), second in batting average (.294) and on-base percentage (.368), third in runs (38), and fourth in slugging (.456) and OPS (.824), one of four in the group with an OPS above .800. In the more nitty-gritty department of stats, he’s been clutch, leading the majors with three walk-off RBI.

Unfortunately, Verdugo plays the same position as reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge, who’s hitting .298 and leading the league’s outfielders with 18 home runs and an out-of-this-world 1.089 OPS.

Verdugo has little chance of taking the starting job from Judge, but he could make the cut as a reserve, especially if he keeps up his strong start.

Rafael Devers

To be clear, a so-so season by Devers is still miles ahead of most players. He ranks in the 90th percentile or better in Average Exit Velocity, Maximum Exit Velocity, Hard-Hit Rate, and Expected Slugging, and his strikeout rate is exactly average.

That said, he’s no shoo-in for starting third baseman. True, he leads qualified AL players at his position with 47 RBI and 13 home runs, and he and Texas’ Josh Jung (12) are the only two with double-digit round-trippers. One-third of the way through the season, Devers is nearly halfway to matching his 2022 total, 27 homers in 141 games.

But within the aforementioned group, Devers is fourth in runs (28) and sixth in hits (51), and though he’s far from the worst strikeout culprit, has the second-fewest walks (11). Despite Fenway Park’s reputation as a doubles paradise (the Red Sox lead MLB in doubles and led in them last year, as well), he only ranks third (13).

He may be one of his team’s best hitters, and Red Sox fans will surely vote for their beloved superstar, but is he truly worthy of the starting honors?

Kenley Jansen

Pitchers aren’t on the fan ballot, but the Red Sox do have some potential All-Star arms in the bullpen.

In his first season in the American League, Jansen has been one of its most reliable bullpen arms this season.

He’s converted 11 saves in 14 opportunities, including his 400th career save, and he boasts impressive percentile rankings nearly across the board.

Josh Winckowski

Despite a bit of a meltdown in his last appearance, Winckowski has been one of the league’s best relievers.

After making his debut as a starter last summer, the 24-year-old right-hander began the season in a long relief role. Despite only making 19 appearances, his 33 2/3 innings rank second among AL relievers, and he owns a strong 2.14 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.

“We’re not a good defensive team, we’re 29th in the league,” Cora said. “We have a pitching staff that doesn’t have swing and miss stuff, when we get to two strikes and we induce to weak contact, we’ve got to make the plays. We’re really good when we’re making plays, when we’re not we struggle.”

Hours after Cora’s blunt assessment, the Red Sox made their manager look prophetic in the worst possible way.

Thanks in part to a Rafael Devers throwing error to lead off the seventh, the Cincinnati Reds rallied for three runs in the inning to come from behind and beat the Red Sox 5-4. It was Boston’s third straight loss and ensured a series defeat to a Reds club that came to Boston five games under .500.

Devers’ error came on a routine grounder right down the third base line, which necessitated a long but makeable throw across the diamond that the third baseman couldn’t complete. That was followed by two straight singles to load the bases, and Josh Winckowski subsequently drew what would have otherwise been an inning-ending double play that instead resulted in the Red Sox giving up the tying run in exchange for two outs.

Then, the next at bat, Reds first baseman Spencer Steer struck for what wound up being the game-winning two-run home run.

“It’s tough, it’s a routine play that we have to make at this level,” Cora said afterwards. “I always say if you give the opposition more than 27 outs most of the time they’re going to score, they’re going to make you pay. Obviously that play we had to make, we didn’t, and it opened the gates for them.”

The error came amid what has been a confounding stretch for Devers, who has also been stuck in no-man’s land at the plate.

On one hand he’s been unusually passive on the first pitch, a trend Cora said has gone on for the past 15 games or so. On the other hand he’s been more aggressive than usual later in the at bat. While he’s remained among the most prolific run-producers in the league, he also has an on-base percentage of just .286, on pace to be the worst of his career by far.

“He hasn’t walked in months, so that’s part of the equation,” Cora quipped pregame, only a slight exaggeration since Devers had just two walks in 94 plate appearances in May entering the night. “Obviously he’s an aggressive guy but at the end of the day you still have to control the strike zone.”

That combination has limited Devers’ overall effectiveness, and Wednesday he made a clear effort to at least swing more aggressively on the first pitch. He laced the first pitch he saw from Reds starter Luke Weaver for a scorched lineout the opposite way, and his next time up he went the other way again, taking a 1-1 fastball high off the Green Monster for an RBI double, the 200th of his career.

Devers later won a 10-pitch at bat to draw a huge walk in the seventh, which loaded the bases for Justin Turner, but the Red Sox couldn’t capitalize.

Hhe finished 1 for 4 and flew out to deep center field to end the game.

The Red Sox took a 3-1 lead into the seventh after Masataka Yoshida hit a solo home run to lead off the second, Devers tacked on his RBI double in the third and Enmanuel Valdez added a solo shot of his own in the fifth. Cincinnati managed a run off Red Sox starter James Paxton on a Luke Maile RBI double in the fifth, but otherwise the veteran was fantastic, striking out eight batters while drawing a season-high 22 whiffs over five strong innings.

“I felt good, fastball felt really good coming out, I felt the breaking ball took some steps forward,” said Paxton, who allowed one run on four hits and a walk while throwing 100 pitches. “I was throwing some first-pitch breaking balls for strikes like I wanted to.”

The Reds began making their run in the sixth when Kutter Crawford was uncharacteristically sloppy in his first appearance since being hit in the ankle with a comebacker over the weekend. Crawford walked the first two batters and allowed an RBI single to Nick Senzel, and while Winckowski was able to slam the door with a quick strikeout to end the inning, things came unglued in the seventh.

Much like Tuesday the Red Sox did make one last push at the end. Jarren Duran got the Red Sox within one after hitting an RBI double to score Yoshida in the eighth, but pinch hitter Raimel Tapia and Valdez couldn’t get him in, with Valdez striking out at the end of an eight-pitch at bat.

The Red Sox then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth, with Devers’ deep fly out wrapping things up.

Boston (28-27) finishes May 13-13 and is 2-7 over its last nine games. Chris Sale (5-2, 4.72 ERA) will look to stop the skid when he takes the mound against young Reds phenom Hunter Greene (1-4, 4.18). First pitch for the series finale is set for 7:10 p.m.

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A post shared by Garrett Whitlock (@gwhit17)

Any fan of the show “Ted Lasso” will recognize the iconic design, a motif throughout the show’s three seasons, which came to an end Tuesday night.

As the shirt suggests, the young Red Sox starting pitcher counts himself among them, though Whitlock is relatively new to the Lasso-verse, a kinder, gentler version of the world as we know it. He started watching during spring training and has been binging the show whenever his frenetic baseball schedule allows. He’s currently a couple episodes into the third, and likely final season.

“I just fell in love with the person, who he is, and everything,” he says.

“To me, what resonates is like, there’s so much more to life than just the sport. Sometimes, we get caught up in the wins and losses, and yeah, it’s a big part of everything,” he acknowledges. “But what he does as a coach is he sees the person, not the player. And that’s big to me, because to me, each person is more than just who they are. You’re more to me than just what you do, that’s what really resonated with me.”

Whitlock’s love of Lasso makes sense for several reasons.

The 26-year-old right-hander’s career thus far has not been unlike Apple TV’s unexpected juggernaut. Whitlock was a December 2020 Rule 5 draft pick from the Yankees, made his major league debut out of the Boston bullpen in 2021, and ended up being a key contributor to their unexpected ALCS run. “Ted Lasso” is a sports comedy-drama series borne from a series of 2013 NBC commercials.

How often do either of those things happen?

1.96 ERA rookie seasons (46 regular-season appearances) don’t exactly grow on trees, especially where Tommy John and Rule 5 picks are concerned. And never before had a show received 20 Primetime Emmy Award nominations (and seven wins) for its first season, let alone one borne from a bunch of commercials from seven years prior. Likewise for Jason Sudeikis, who won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for playing the eponymous main character.

Then there’s Whitlock’s life over the last few years as it parallels to show’s plot. He was a minor-league pitcher on the injured list during a global pandemic that forced the cancelation of the 2020 MiLB season. The Yankees left him unprotected from the draft, only for him to be claimed by their greatest rival.

Lasso is an upbeat, biscuit-baking, tea-hating football coach from Kansas hired to lead a fictional London football (soccer) club, but he reveals himself to be so much more than his folksy aphorisms and relentless positivity. He struggles with his mental health, works on himself in therapy, and grows into a more open, vulnerable, stronger version of himself. Along the way, his players and the rest of the AFC Richmond staff change for the better, too.

The show has been described as a balm, soothing and uplifting its viewers amidst their personal struggles and the pandemic. Thus, it would’ve been fitting for Whitlock to have started watching the show in 2020, when the first season overlapped with his recovery. He’s been open about his struggles during that uncertain period.

Whitlock doesn’t have a favorite character per se. He likes Lasso’s personality “a lot,” but also says he really relates to the odd-yet-endearing coach Beard and Roy Kent, the gruff, but devoted captain-turned-coach.

“I’m not as big of a grouch, or whatever,” Whitlock laughs, before referencing Kent’s storyline about leaving Chelsea FC, one of many real clubs featured in the show, for Richmond when he realized he was a star in decline.

“After they had gone to Chelsea, Ted asked him, why’d you leave? And Roy was like, ‘I thought I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t want to have that failure, and now part of me wishes I would have just stood back and enjoyed it while I was there,’ ” he says.

“So many times, as athletes, we get so caught up in the here-and-now that we don’t appreciate the here-and-now. There’s only been right around 20,000 people who’ve ever played in the big leagues, and sometimes we just need to take a step back and really relish the fact that we’re fortunate enough to be one of those 20,000 in history to ever do this.

“We get caught up in the speed of things, and it’s great to just kind of have things that reality-check us. Yeah, there’s a lot of stress and everything that goes along with this, but holy crap, look at what I do?” he says, gesturing to the emerald field where his teammates are taking batting practice. “We get to play baseball.”

Back to the shirt itself, a gift from Carson Roberts, a friend from home.

“We both watch Ted Lasso and talk about it all the time,” Whitlock says. “Part of the reason he got me that shirt is just because, you know, Rule 5 guy, like, no one, no one thought I’d ever be here. I’m not supposed to be here.”

Maybe not at the outset. But Ted Lasso was never supposed to coach a British football club, either.

Indefensible

Alex Cora didn’t mince words when fielding questions, pun intended, about his team’s defensive struggles.

Entering Wednesday they ranked 29th in the majors in defensive runs saved, with their 20 throwing errors tied for second-most.

“We have to play defense,” Cora assessed frankly.

“We’re 29th in the league, and we have a pitching staff that doesn’t have swing-and-miss stuff,” he said. “We get to two strikes, we induce weak contact, we got to make the plays.”

Middle infield, in particular, is a weak spot. Without Xander Bogaerts (free agency) and Trevor Story (injured list), they’re minus-2 defensive runs saved at shortstop, with an MLB-worst 12 errors at the position. Several of their utility and bench infielders are injured, too. They’re without Christian Arroyo and Yu Chang, and trade acquisition Adalberto Mondesí’s rehab from May 2022 ACL surgery is open-ended.

Kiké Hernández originally signed on to be Boston’s second baseman in 2021, but ended up playing primarily in centerfield over his first two seasons. His outfield work was of such caliber that when the Red Sox signed him to a one-year extension last September, the intention was to keep him in centerfield this year.

Instead, he’s played 40 games at shortstop, and only six in the outfield. He’s already played more than double his previous season-high for innings at the position, and the transition from utility player to starting shortstop hasn’t been a smooth one.

“He’s made a lot of errors,” his manager said. “At the same time, he’s made a lot of plays.”

“Out conversions is the most important thing, and he has, he hasn’t converted 12 plays, 11 of them throwing, I believe,” Cora recalls. “Everything has been throwing, and that’s something that, you know, we cannot hide.”

Down on the farm

Adam Duvall played his first rehab game on Tuesday night. Serving as Triple-A Worcester’s designated hitter, he went 0-for-3. He’s back in the lineup again Wednesday night, this time to play about five innings in the outfield. Arroyo’s rehab stint with the WooSox continues Wednesday.

Yet here the Red Sox were with the tying run at third base and a chance to cap off a stunning ninth-inning rally.

In the end the self-inflicted damage proved too much to overcome. The Red Sox scored eight runs in the final three innings but couldn’t get over the hump, with Triston Casas striking out to end the roller coaster 9-8 loss at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

“We made some adjustments a little too late and the game got fast on us,” Rafael Devers said afterwards. “They beat us today but we’ll get back tomorrow and try to get a win.”

The late rally came after a moribund stretch that saw the Red Sox effectively give away a game Cincinnati didn’t really deserve to win either. At one point the Reds were 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position and had already stranded 10 on base, but once Rodriguez walked three batters in the top of the seventh, the last of which scored a run with the bases loaded, the Red Sox were really asking for trouble.

Then, Jose Barrero made them pay.

The Reds outfielder crushed a grand slam to seemingly finish the Red Sox off, smoking an 2-0 sinker from Rodriguez off the left Green Monster light tower. At that point the Red Sox looked dead to rights, but almost immediately the bats woke up and fought right until the end.

“That inning was a very simple approach, we put the ball in play and good things happened,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the five-run ninth inning. “Hopefully we can take that going into tomorrow and keep getting momentum offensively.”

Beyond Rodriguez’s brutal outing, Cincinnati was also aided by two Hernández errors and an uncharacteristically sloppy effort by Bello.

Bello wasn’t good Tuesday, throwing 97 pitches over only four innings while needing 59 to get through the first two innings alone. He also drew just six whiffs on 47 swings, and while his fastball velocity was good (95.5 mph), it wasn’t fooling anyone. Reds batters didn’t whiff on it once in 16 swings, and he only drew one whiff on eight sinkers.

He did manage to limit Cincinnati to one run on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts, but he also didn’t get much help behind him from Hernández, who committed a throwing error on what would have been the third out of a 1-2-3 third inning. Hernández was later thrown out at home plate to end the fifth trying to score on a Raimel Tapia double, and he threw away a potential inning-ending double play ball in the sixth as well, which allowed a run to score and made it 3-0.

Cincinnati had also squandered a ton of scoring chances, but by this point the Red Sox had also failed to score with two runners in scoring position and no outs in the second and afterwards weren’t able to do anything with Reds starting pitcher Ben Lively. The 31-year-old finished with 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, two walks and six strikeouts.

The Red Sox were able to tag the Cincinnati bullpen for three runs in the bottom of the seventh on four straight two-out hits, including an RBI double by Reese McGuire, an RBI triple by Tapia and an RBI single by Rafael Devers for the 500th RBI of his career, but that was after the Reds had already blown the game open with their five-run seventh.

Cincinnati rookie Spencer Steer tacked on a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth, which wound up being the game-winning run when Boston scored five times in the bottom of the ninth on five straight hits. Tapia (3 for 5, 2 RBI), Devers (2 for 5, 2 RBI) and Justin Turner all had RBI singles, Masataka Yoshida (3 for 4) had an RBI double and Jarren Duran cut the deficit to one with an RBI ground out. That brought Casas to the plate but Reds closer Alexis Diaz was able to get the strikeout to end the game.

With Toronto’s 7-2 win over Milwaukee, the Red Sox (28-26) now fall back into sole possession of last in the AL East while Cincinnati (25-29) extends its win streak to four games. James Paxton (1-1, 5.14 ERA) will take the hill for the Red Sox on Wednesday against Luke Weaver (1-2, 5.45) with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

For the next few months, they’re the only show in town.

Is Boston’s baseball team feeling some added pressure now?

“They had some great seasons,” Alex Cora said of the Bruins and Celtics. “And obviously, at the end, you know, it didn’t work out for their organizations, for the city, but at one point, we knew that it was us, and we just gotta keep playing good baseball.”

The manager didn’t exactly offer a ringing endorsement of his team’s current state.

“When you look back, we had some, four horrible series the whole season, and they put us in a spot that, you lose all those games, right?” But the overall thing, it’s been, it’s been OK.

“Of course, we can get better, but I don’t think it’s that bad, or it’s that great. It’s kind of like, right in the middle,” the manager assessed, noting, “We play in the toughest division in baseball.”

The Red Sox entered a three-game series with Cincinnati with a 28-25 record, which puts them fourth in a division in which every team is above .500. In any other division, they’d be no lower than third place.

However, Cora also pointed out that the Red Sox have been defying preseason projections and expectations.

“We’re deeper than what everybody thought we would be,” he said.

New challenge for No. 1

Shortstop Marcelo Mayer made his Double-A Portland debut on Tuesday evening. The organization’s No. 1 prospect found out he was being promoted on Sunday, less than two years after the Red Sox selected him as the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft.

“He’s a good player, man, he’s a good player, good kid,” Cora said Tuesday afternoon. “He understands who he is. Tools-wise, he’s really good.”

In their limited time together, the manager had high praise for the organization’s top prospect.

“Everybody has seen the offensive part of it, but the defense is solid, you know? We had him a few times in spring training, in the dugout, and he’s a good baseball player. He understands, he communicates, he’s a leader, too,” the Sox skipper noted.

“He earned this next step,” Chaim Bloom told the Herald ahead of Mayer’s debut. “Ideally we can have every player at the level that’s going to help them grow the most. Double-A will be a good challenge for him, and I’m sure there will be ups and downs, but he’s shown us that he’s ready for it.”

“He’s impressive,” Cora said, adding that it’s not a far drive from Portland to Boston. “We’ve seen guys making that jump. I’m not saying that’s where we’re at, but you know, it’s the reality of the business.

“He keeps pushing, and we’re gonna keep challenging him.”

Progress, not perfect

After getting off to a few rough starts, Chris Sale has been on a comeback tour of epic proportions. Dating back to April 18, he has a 2.91 ERA over his last seven starts, with 46 strikeouts, seven walks, and just three home runs allowed over his last 43.1 innings (he gave up three homers in his season debut).

“Little by little, we keep adding stuff to his process, and he’s getting better,” Cora lauded. “Velocity went up, location-wise, he’s been solid lately. The changeup is not there, which is kind of like, OK … he’s in a good spot.”

After handling Sale with immense care in spring training, his manager says no restrictions remain.

“With him, (we were) kind of like, taking care of him. He’s out of the window, now we just let him go, and hopefully, he can go on one of those runs like in ’17 and ’18, and carry this pitching staff all the way through,” he said.

Roster moves

Corey Kluber went on the Paternity List on Tuesday, opening a roster spot for the Red Sox to recall left-handed reliever Ryan Sherriff from Triple-A.

Sherriff has made two appearances for the big-league team this year, totaling two scoreless innings.

In addition to moving Mayer up, the Red Sox have promoted infielder Christian Koss and reliever Theo Denlinger to Triple-A Worcester. After getting off to a cold start (he hit .188 with a .570 OPS in April), Koss had a strong May; over 20 games, he collected 18 hits, including four doubles and a home run. He’s also 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts.

The Red Sox acquired Denlinger from the Chicago White Sox in February, in exchange for Franklin German. The 26-year-old right-handed reliever posted a 2.29 ERA across 14 appearances with Portland, with 20 strikeouts and seven walks across 19.2 innings.

Injury updates

Adam Duvall begins a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester this week.

“He’s the DH today, playing the outfield tomorrow,” Cora said. “We’ll keep building him up, and it’s about feel with him, too. Obviously, coming from this one and what happened last year.”

Duvall suffered a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist last July, which required season-ending surgery.

The veteran outfielder has been on the injured list since April 10. He fractured the same wrist on a diving catch during the Red Sox series in Detroit, bringing his hot start to a screeching halt. In his first eight games of the season, he went 15-for-33 with five doubles, a triple, four home runs, and 14 RBI.

“Hopefully, it’s the same as early in the season, but we’ll take it day by day with him,” Cora said, adding, “He feels really good.”

Fittingly, the WooSox have a road series at the Louisville Bats this week in Duvall’s home state of Kentucky. Louisville is also the former home of Boston’s Triple-A affiliate, the Colonels. Carlton Fisk and Dwight Evans are among the Red Sox legends who had to prove themselves in Kentucky before making it to the majors.

Christian Arroyo will continue his rehab assignment Wednesday, also with the WooSox. The Red Sox want him to play second base, shortstop, and DH. “And then we reassess the situation towards the end of the week,” Cora said. … Richard Bleier played catch Tuesday for the first time since going on the injured list last week.