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. And he was joined on the shelf by one of Boston's most-used relief pitchers.
Yoshida was placed on the 10-day injured list prior to Sunday’s rubber match against the Pirates at PNC Park. In a series of corresponding moves, right-hander Justin Slaten was placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to Wednesday) with right elbow inflammation, and catcher/first baseman Mickey Gasper and left-hander Raymond Burgos were recalled from Triple-A Worcester.
While Yoshida’s move to the IL was inevitable by the end of Saturday’s game, the Sunday morning development with Slaten was a bit of a surprise.
The Sox will now be without two of their top righty setup men at the same time, as they lost one of their other key leverage relievers in Garrett Whitlock, who was placed on the IL on Thursday retroactive to last Monday with right elbow inflammation.
“It's a little bit of forearm/elbow discomfort,” said Slaten. “It's something that I've been dealing with a few times this year that I've just been pitching through. And then this time, going back to [last weekend at home] is kind of when it popped up that last day, and then into Toronto.
“We were doing a really good job of managing it earlier in the year, just pitching through it, knowing when to give it a rest, and then let it go. And then this time it just got a little too much to the point where it was like I was pitching and, just for two or three days afterwards, just not recovering well at all. So we just made the decision that it's better for me, for the team, for the guys in the bullpen to just go ahead and get this cleaned up, get it fixed and then be ready to go down the stretch.”
Particularly, given the addition at the Trade Deadline of power lefty Erik Miller, Tracy thinks he has enough to navigate his bullpen until Whitlock and Slaten return.
“We have people that will step up,” Tracy said. “[Greg Weissert] has thrown very meaningful innings for the last couple years for this team. Tyron [Guerrero]’s down there. You saw what Miller's done since he's been here and the inning he threw last night. [Closer Aroldis Chapman] is still there. But they're good back-end arms. We want to get them back.”
Slaten has a 4.60 ERA in 36 appearances for Boston this season, but he was brilliant during Boston’s 21-4 July, posting a 1.08 ERA in nine outings.
As for Yoshida, his injury occurred while hustling for a double in the top of the third inning in Saturday night's 4-0 win over the Pirates. His leg gave out on him before he even got to the second-base bag, as he fell in safely as opposed to sliding.
“Nothing yet as far as how severe,” Tracy said. “I think he's going to be down for some time.”
Of late, Yoshida had 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 year, though he 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.
Gasper, who had a productive hitting stretch earlier this season when he was called up, will take down some of the DH at-bats against righties. Tracy can also be creative, as he was on Sunday, using Adley Rutschman in that spot.
Once Anthony -- who starts a Minor League rehab with Double-A Portland on Tuesday -- returns after being sidelined with a partially torn tendon in his right ring finger, the Sox will have much better coverage for the at-bats Yoshida is leaving behind.
Has Yoshida 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].”