ST. PETERSBURG -- The bullpen depleted a little of late, the Red Sox got a key weapon back for Sunday’s game against the Rays, activating righty setup man Tyron Guerrero from the 15-day injured list.
Guerrero had been down since Sept. 1 with right shoulder inflammation.
Interim manager Chad Tracy didn’t rule out Aroldis Chapman (lat issue) returning after a week-long absence, but being down five runs entering the ninth inning of Boston's 5-1 loss to the Rays on Sunday, Chapman did not get into the game. However, Guerrero came in to throw a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts.
Chapman did play long toss prior to Sunday’s game, though.
Guerrero, 35, has averaged 100.2 mph with his sinker this season, coming out of nowhere after not pitching in the Major Leagues since 2019. He has a 3.18 ERA in 39 outings.
“That's important. I'm really happy [that Guerrero is back] today,” said Tracy. “... With him, it's about how do we manage getting him on there today and getting him as many outings as we can, not overdoing it, but to get him back on his feet.
"It's been a minute, but everything's gone well with the checkpoints. He's obviously a very important piece to this puzzle in our bullpen. So having him back and being able to manage at least a handful of outings prior to the end of the season is really important.”
To make room for Guerrero on the roster, Wyatt Olds was optioned to Triple-A Worcester. The 27-year-old righty, over multiple callups, has a 1.20 ERA in the first 13 outings of his career.
“He’s been throwing the ball great,” said Tracy of Olds. “He's got big stuff. He, obviously, was one of the guys that came here when Tyron went down. So, it was very tough [to send him back down]. But it’s important we have the length that we need and the innings that we need to make sure that we manage the next week, especially in the fashion that we want to manage it, and not having to rely on, lean on back-end guys in spots that you don't want to lean on them.”