BOSTON -- Red Sox manager John Farrell had planned on starting Dustin Pedroia for Wednesday's opener of a rain-shortened two-game set against the Yankees, but reversed course when the second baseman woke up with some lingering soreness in his left knee and ankle.
The fact that Fenway Park withstood several more hours of rain following Tuesday's postponement didn't help matters.
Farrell's preference is to not play Pedroia at all on Wednesday, with the hope he can return for Thursday's series finale.
"Pedey is still dealing with some soreness in the left knee," said Farrell. "After some work he did yesterday, he felt like there was still some lingering symptoms there. I will be honest with you, with the wet grounds tonight, I wasn't going to take any further risk for potential [slipping] to put him at risk further. He's day to day, and we hope he will be back in the lineup tomorrow."
The Red Sox are very short-handed in the infield at the moment, with Pablo Sandoval on the 10-day disabled list with a right knee sprain and Brock Holt on the DL with vertigo.
On Wednesday, Marco Hernandez started at second base while Josh Rutledge got the nod at third in his first game of the season. Rutledge had been out with a left hamstring strain.
Pedroia suffered his injury on Friday night in Baltimore on a hard slide by Manny Machado. Wednesday was the third straight game Pedroia was out of the starting lineup.
Worth noting
• David Price had what Farrell referred to as a "normal, in-between starts" side session on Wednesday. This, after Price threw an extended session on Monday of 45 throws. The next step will come Saturday, when the lefty faces hitters for the first time since suffering a left elbow strain on Feb. 28.
• Setup man Tyler Thornburg still hasn't been cleared to throw off the mound in his slower-than-anticipated recovery from a right shoulder impingement.
"You know, he's throwing long toss out to 120 feet," Farrell said. "He's still in the long-toss phase. We're hopeful to get him to at least 150 feet before we would introduce the mound. I think, even by his own account, this has taken longer than he even anticipated. He's in that long-toss phase and he will be on the mound as soon as first available."