BOSTON -- The Red Sox are in dire need of good news for the starting rotation, fueled by multiple injuries and another rough outing by Brayan Bello on Wednesday.
Sonny Gray is close to giving good news to the team.
The veteran right-hander faced hitters in live batting practice on Friday afternoon at Fenway Park. Gray got up and down three times in Boston’s Fenway Green uniform with red long sleeves as he works his way back to game action.
Gray last pitched on April 20 when he exited his Patriots' Day start against the Tigers in the third inning. He landed on the 15-day injured list with a right hamstring strain.
“Yeah, that was good,” Gray said following the session. “It's what I do. I love to pick up a baseball, and I love to throw it. So, yeah, that was fun.”
“Sonny looked good,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “I mean, you see him out there, he's grunting, he's letting it go. So I was watching, 'All right, the foot's on the throttle,' which is good. Next steps are TBD. We're going to talk through with [chief baseball officer Craig Breslow] and with [pitching coach Andrew Bailey], and decide if he’s going to go back in rotation. We'll decide. We haven't made that decision yet.”
Gray confirmed that he did not have a return date locked in, though he could skip a rehab assignment and instead directly return to the rotation in the big leagues.
“I feel like that was a good volume,” Gray said. “It wasn't a ton of time completely off away from throwing, so my body doesn't feel like it's got left behind. The good part about this was when it happened, just being self-aware that, ‘Hey, there was an issue. You did have a strain,’ which I knew. Fortunately, it wasn’t something where you just have to sit there and completely rest and not get on your feet for a couple of weeks or whatever.
“So that was good, just kind of controlling the volume as you build back up. I would feel comfortable and confident in getting into a game. That is something that I had not discussed with anyone yet.”
Before that shortened start, Gray had pitched into the sixth inning or later in two of his previous three starts. Overall, the 36-year-old holds a 4.30 ERA across 23 innings of work in his first five starts this season.
The Red Sox are operating without their top two starters from the Opening Day rotation. Garrett Crochet, who was in line to start Friday, hit the injured list Wednesday (retroactive to Sunday) with left shoulder inflammation. The left-hander underwent an MRI when the Red Sox returned to Boston.
“He did have an MRI,” Tracy said. “Everything was clean. There was inflammation exactly as we expected it was, so nothing structurally wrong with him."
Fellow starters Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval also remain on the injured list.
The run of injuries led to the return of Payton Tolle (Boston's No. 1 prospect) to the big league roster. The Red Sox also promoted Jake Bennett (No. 6), who was acquired in exchange for Luis Perales in an offseason trade with the Nationals, to start Friday’s series opener against the Astros in his MLB debut.