TORONTO -- The Red Sox bullpen suffered a significant loss on Thursday, as the team is placing right-hander Garrett Whitlock on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.
Fellow right-hander Greg Weissert has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester to take his place on the roster.
Interim manager Chad Tracy indicated following Wednesday’s 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre that Whitlock was unavailable for the game due to the elbow issue, but he wouldn’t confirm whether an IL stint was needed.
Less than 24 hours later, he has his answer.
Whitlock has been a key piece to the Red Sox bullpen, putting together a 6-1 record and 2.05 ERA in 45 games with 49 strikeouts against just seven walks in 44 innings.
“I wouldn’t say it’s [worse] each time,” Whitlock said pregame on Thursday. “The days build on top of each other and where we’re at with the bullpen, everyone’s a little taxed down there.”
Neither Whitlock nor Tracy wanted to put a timeline on if the IL stint would be the minimum.
With a history of elbow issues, including Tommy John surgery and an internal brace procedure, Whitlock wasn’t concerned about this issue being anything more serious.
“I don’t think we’re worried about it needing surgery or anything like that,” he said. “It’s not something where I’ve felt anything like I did the previous times I’ve needed surgery. It’s nothing that concerning.”
But the problem has been lingering, with it creeping back up on Boston’s last West Coast road trip. It was more manageable at that time given the state of the bullpen, Tracy said.
Whitlock will travel with the team to Pittsburgh and be monitored once they return to Boston.
Tracy confirmed nothing had changed Thursday morning from where Whitlock was the night before, and called it partly precautionary at the moment. It’s also somewhat a matter of circumstances, he said.
“One, what’s best for Whit,” Tracy said. “Two, with the condition of our bullpen and the other guys we’ve used heavily, we’re not in a position at the moment to go a guy down. We have to get him right because there’s a lot of baseball left to be played.”
It’s a tough blow for a team in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Boston hasn’t lost five in a row since the opening road trip of the season, when it lost two in Cincinnati followed by three in Houston.
Weissert, who was optioned to Worcester on Aug. 7, owns a 3.97 ERA over 48 appearances for the Red Sox this season.
Despite the loss, Tracy is still confident in where the pitching staff is at.
“Any time you lose a guy like Whit, it becomes more complicated,” Tracy said. “We still have all our starters intact, we still have some very reliable back end arms. Weissert is a very capable arm. This is more, in my view, a part of a Major League season, 162 games you lean on guys and rely on them heavily to get us back to where we were.”