PITTSBURGH -- Just hours after Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy had his most positive injury update in weeks, revealing that three key players (Roman Anthony, Trevor Story and Isiah Kiner-Falefa) will all open Minor League rehab assignments within days, designated hitter Masataka Yoshida went down with a left hamstring strain that is going to keep him out for a while.
In fact, Yoshida is all but certain to be placed on the 10-day injured list prior to Sunday’s rubber match against the Pirates at PNC Park. Tracy expected the Sox to have a callup from Triple-A Worcester in place for the finale of this six-game road trip.
While hustling for a double in the top of the third inning in Saturday night's 4-0 win over the Pirates, Yoshida appeared hobbled before he even got to the second-base bag, sort of falling rather than sliding.
He grabbed what looked like his left hamstring and signaled toward the dugout. Moments later, Yoshida limped off the field and was replaced by Anthony Seigler.
“Nothing yet as far as how severe,” Tracy said. “I think he's going to be down for some time, but we'll get more clear answers on that. But yeah, I saw the last two steps where that leg kind of stayed behind him, and you could tell right away that something was going on with his hamstring.”
Of late, Yoshida has been Boston’s DH against righties while leading off in many of his starts.
While Yoshida has had his share of injuries since coming to the Red Sox from Japan at the start of the 2023 season, he had been healthy this season, though was scrapping for playing time earlier in the season.
But after at last carving out a structured role, Yoshida was on a roll. Entering Saturday’s contest, he had a batting line of .321/.377/.505 with four homers and 18 RBIs in his previous 33 games, 28 of them starts.
“Yeah, it's unfortunate,” Yoshida said of the timing.
Has he ever had a hamstring injury?
“I had it back in Japan before. It was in a different spot, but close to where it hurts right now,” Yoshida said. “But it took me about a month [to come back].”