BOSTON – Patrick Sandoval’s long road back to pitching in a Major League game gained some steam on Sunday when the lefty went four strong innings (three hits, one run, one walk, three strikeouts) for Triple-A Worcester and threw 60 pitches.
The lefty last pitched in the Majors on June 21, 2024. He underwent Tommy John surgery days later and had some other injury setbacks on his road back.
While the Red Sox haven’t decided if Sandoval will be used as a starter or a reliever when he comes back, they will continue to build up his pitch count.
The club currently lacks depth in the rotation with ace Garrett Crochet out indefinitely and Brayan Bello trying to regain his command in Triple-A.
“I think there's still room to get the count built up some more,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “He got to 60 [pitches] today, There's probably room for another one to get it further, and then we’ll have to have a conversation after that.”
Given that Boston has three rookie starters in the rotation in Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and Jake Bennett, Sandoval could come in handy at some point when one of those pitchers needs a break.
“Having depth is a good thing, and it's been tested for us,” said Tracy. “When Brayan went down … we know he's down there, and he's got a specific purpose in mind of trying to get him right. You're like, OK, well, we're kind of out of starting depth, so getting Sandy healthy helps us in that way. But what we're going to do yet, we haven't got that deep into it, but obviously it's looming.”
Sandoval has pitched 107 games in his career (100 starts), all with the Angels, posting a career 4.01 ERA.