BOSTON -- The Red Sox kept leadoff man Roman Anthony out of the lineup on Wednesday night against Yankees left-handed ace Max Fried not due to matchup reasons, but because the 21-year-old outfielder is dealing with back tightness.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora is hopeful Anthony will be back in there on Thursday, when the Yankees have fireballing righty Cam Schlittler on the mound.
Cora said Anthony felt his back tighten up during an 0-for-3 performance in Tuesday's 4-0 loss to New York.
While big things are expected of Anthony for his first full season in the Majors, and his performance in the World Baseball Classic did nothing to diminish that, he’s off to a slow start.
Through 22 games and 97 plate appearances, Anthony has a batting line of .225/.361/.325 with one homer and four RBIs.
The on-base percentage has been the one bright spot, but Boston’s slumping lineup would greatly benefit from more production from Anthony, who had a line of .292/.396/.463 in 303 plate appearances in his rookie season.
Center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela took over for Anthony in the leadoff spot for Wednesday’s game. Jarren Duran, who has often been an odd man out against lefties of late, got the start in left field and batted sixth. Right-handed-hitting utilityman Andruw Monasterio was deployed at DH.
This was the third time in Boston’s 24 games this season Anthony hasn’t been in the starting lineup.