When Hunter Renfroe returns to the Red Sox, he will do so with a heavy heart.

The right-handed-hitting slugger revealed in a heartfelt Instagram post on Saturday night that his father’s funeral was earlier that day. Todd Renfroe succumbed after a four-year battle with cancer.

Hunter Renfroe was placed on the bereavement list prior to Thursday’s game at Fenway Park.

Players on the bereavement list must miss a minimum of three games and a maximum of seven. Sunday’s finale of a three-game series at Progressive Field in Cleveland was the fourth missed game for Renfroe.

“As everybody knows, his dad passed away,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “I’ve been in contact with him, but that’s where I’ll leave it at. I’m not sure when he’s coming back. I know [chief baseball officer] Chaim [Bloom] has been in contact with his agent, so he’ll probably have more during the day. But you’ve got to respect his family, respect where they’re at, and obviously we’re thinking and praying for them, so I’ll leave it at that.”

In the Instagram post, Renfroe referred to his dad as his best friend.

Renfroe detailed his relationship with his father in a 2017 story written by MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell.

“Me being an only child, he was always there pitching to me, working with me at the field," Hunter said. "It was always fun to be with him, doing all that traveling, being with him the whole time. He's always been my best friend since."

Todd Renfroe purchased a 2003 Cherokee Fifth Wheel when Hunter was a kid so he could transport his son to all of his baseball tournaments.

This is at least the second time a Red Sox player has lost a parent within the last year. Reliever Ryan Brasier’s father passed away just before Spring Training.

Dugie Day
The Red Sox had a lighthearted pregame on Sunday, as all the players and coaching staff showed up to the clubhouse wearing outfits or jewelry mimicking outfielder Alex Verdugo.

In his Sunday morning Zoom call, Cora was wearing a jersey from Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Ariz., where Verdugo attended.

The theme day was the idea of Kiké Hernández, who ultimately couldn’t take part in it after being placed on the COVID-19 injured list earlier in the weekend.

“It’s ‘Dress up like Dugie' day. There's a lot of interesting outfits in there,” said Cora. “Yeah, the most disappointed guy in the organization right now is Kiké, actually, because he was the one that set it up, and he spent probably like 25 bucks to get his outfit, and he's not going to be able to wear it, but it should be a fun one.”

Bullpen short-handed
The Red Sox have asked a lot of their bullpen of late, and Cora was using Sunday to let some key relievers recover.

Garrett Whitlock and Garrett Richards are two of the pitchers who won’t be used on Sunday, and probably Monday as well. It’s possible that Adam Ottavino, who got saves on Friday and Saturday, will get Sunday off.

Cora has given slumping closer Matt Barnes a lot of time off this week so he can rediscover his mechanics and his confidence. However, Barnes might be thrust back into a high-leverage situation on Sunday.

Sale gets extra day
Ace Chris Sale will make his fourth start back from Tommy John surgery on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field in the third of a four-game series against the Rays.

For all four of those starts, the Red Sox plotted the rotation so that Sale (3-0, 2.35 ERA) would get more than the standard four days of rest.

Cora indicated that will change soon.

“This is the last one he’s going to get an extra day,” said Cora. “From there on, obviously, there’s off-days and all that, so we’ll deal with the rotation depending how they feel.”

While Nick Pivetta will take the ball for Monday’s opener at Tropicana Field and Eduardo Rodriguez will draw the assignment in Thursday’s finale, Cora is keeping Tuesday as a TBD. It could be a bullpen day, provided Cora’s relievers are rested enough by then.

A new leadoff man
With Hernández out indefinitely, the Red Sox need to find a way to stay productive at leadoff. On Sunday, Cora went with Kyle Schwarber, who tore it up for the Nationals in that spot earlier this season, slashing .338/.416/.974 with 16 homers and 27 RBIs in 89 plate appearances.

Rafael Devers batted second, giving the Red Sox a lot of firepower at the top of the order.

“I just felt they used their lefty [reliever] on back-to-back days, so probably he’s not available today,” Cora said. “So putting those two on top of the lineup will be beneficial to try to get as many at-bats as possible against righties and see where it takes us.”

Schwarber has been as advertised for the Red Sox, producing a slash line of .385/.529/.641 with four doubles and two homers in his first 39 at-bats for the team.

“He’s been great. You look at the numbers and it’s like, ‘This is what we expected.’ It just happened that he started out a little bit later because of his situation,” said Cora. “But as far as the lineup and what he’s bringing to the equation, yeah, he’s been really good.”