BOSTON -- Red Sox ace Chris Sale will be activated from the disabled list on Tuesday night and serve as the "opener" against the Blue Jays.
According to manager Alex Cora, Sale will throw two innings ("40 pitches max") in his return.
In the middle of one of the best stretches of his career, Sale developed mild inflammation in his left shoulder, leading to his placement on the 10-day disabled list on July 31. He came back and made one start, on Aug. 12, striking out 12 over just five innings and 68 pitches, but he went back on the DL with the same diagnosis on Aug. 18.
The Red Sox are enthused about how Sale is feeling but will ease him back into action with multiple "openers" before he gets back to a traditional workload at some point before the postseason.
"Two the first time, hopefully three the second time, then keep going," said Cora. "And then the last one, whenever it is, like a full-go, six or seven innings and 100 pitches."
Nathan Eovaldi will make an extended outing out of the bullpen after Sale is done on Tuesday, and could continue to follow him in subsequent outings.
There seems to be a strong chance that Eovaldi will pitch in relief in the postseason, though Cora said that isn't the reason he will back up Sale.
"At the same time, with him, we've got to be careful, too," said Cora. "He's coming off of Tommy John surgery. He's been pitching a lot this season. It's a good time for him to kind of like, slow him down so we can build him up again and go wherever we have to go."
As for Sale, he is 12-4 with a 1.93 ERA in 146 innings. Before the injury he was the leading contender for the American League Cy Young Award, and it will be interesting to see how much his reduced workload for the rest of the season affects his chances to win the award that has eluded him so far.
Phillips increasing versatility
The Red Sox will try to create more opportunities for Brandon Phillips by getting him acclimated to first base. Phillips has been a second baseman for his entire career and added third to his repertoire last season.
The fact that another position is being added to his mix is an indication that the Red Sox at least view him as a candidate to make the postseason roster. In his return to action on Wednesday, Phillips belted a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the ninth to lead the Red Sox to a thrilling comeback.

"We're going to see how versatile we can make this guy," said Cora. "Forget the home run -- I think the at-bats that day were pretty solid. The stuff he saw, it was good. And he was patient, he swung at strikes, you saw him running the bases. He's done it before, so we'll see how he goes. He's going to start taking ground balls at first, and if he feels comfortable and we feel that we can find some innings there, too, he'll play some first base."
Hot corner sorting itself out
Rafael Devers was the unquestioned primary third baseman for the Red Sox when the season started, but he was inconsistent and injury-plagued in his first full year, and Cora is now going with more of a rotation system.
Eduardo Nunez got the start on Friday against righty Gerrit Cole. Devers will start on Saturday against Charlie Morton, but Nunez will start the Sunday night game against lefty Dallas Keuchel.
"I mean, Eduardo has been playing well," said Cora. "I know ... he hasn't had too much success as far as the numbers, but he's hitting the ball solid. He's playing good defense."