Anthony day to day with wrist sprain; Gray in line for rotation return
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DETROIT – At this point, the Red Sox are encouraged by the results of an MRI on Roman Anthony’s right wrist taken in Boston that revealed a sprain and no structure damage.
Anthony tweaked his wrist on a check swing/foul ball in his first at-bat of Monday’s 5-4 win over the Tigers and flew back to Boston on Tuesday to visit with the team’s hand specialist.
The earliest he will return to the lineup is Thursday night at home against the Rays.
“Outside of that, no update, other than to say right now, day to day,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “There’s nothing imminent as far as an IL, but he’s day to day, and we'll keep assessing him over the next couple of days to see how he's feeling.”
Was this pretty much a best-case scenario for the 21-year-old left-handed hitter?
“The thing is, even with a sprain, it’s still going to be reactive on how it is feeling, and how is it progressing,” said Tracy. “That's good news, but we still have to see how he feels over the next couple of days. To know that something happened, and we don't see a break, and we don't see any structural [damage] right now. But again, there’s still steps to take to make sure that he feels good and healthy.”
In 30 games and 109 at-bats this season, Anthony has a batting line of .229/.354/.321 with one homer and five RBIs. However, he had been showing improved results in the days leading up to the wrist injury.
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The Red Sox had some other good news on the injury front as well, with “all signs pointing” toward the return of Sonny Gray to the starting rotation for Wednesday’s series finale against the Tigers.
Gray strained his right hamstring in a start on April 21 against the Tigers. A return Wednesday against Detroit would mean Gray missed the minimum 15 days required by the injured list.
With Garrett Crochet currently on the IL with left shoulder inflammation and Ranger Suarez’s next start in limbo as he deals with right hamstring tightness, the return of Gray looms large.
The Red Sox have struggled mightily on offense to open the season, but the hitters have been healthy for the most part.