BOSTON -- As expected, the Red Sox placed right-hander Sonny Gray on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday, the day after he strained his right hamstring in an abbreviated 2 2/3-inning start against the Tigers.
While the club isn’t ready to say who will replace its No. 2 starter in the rotation this weekend in Baltimore, lefty Payton Tolle, Boston’s No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is the clear front-runner.
In fact, Triple-A Worcester manager Chad Tracy told reporters, including MassLive’s Katie Morrison-O’Day, that “there’s a pretty good likelihood” Tolle will be promoted to the Red Sox later this week.
In the meantime, the Sox filled Gray’s roster spot with lefty reliever Tyler Samaniego to give the bullpen, which has been overworked of late, a fresh arm.
Currently, the Sox have Ranger Suarez and Brayan Bello lined up to start Wednesday and Thursday for the final two games of this home series against the Yankees.
Given that Tolle missed his last scheduled start and hasn’t pitched since April 12 because the Red Sox were holding him back as a contingency due to a poor weather forecast last weekend, he could be slotted in whenever the club sees fit.
“Right now, this is where we’re at,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We'll meet and we’ll talk and then we’ll decide what we’ll do. But as of today, this is where we stand.”
Tolle, the charismatic power lefty, made his debut for the Red Sox last season, posting a 6.06 ERA in seven appearances, including three starts.
The 23-year-old was in competition to be the No. 5 starter in Spring Training, and he showed flashes of brilliance. But he ultimately lost out to his close friend, lefty Connelly Early, the club’s No. 3 prospect.
Gray’s injury provides a chance for the two young lefties to be in the rotation at the same time for at least the short term.
In three starts for Worcester this season, Tolle is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA, notching 19 strikeouts while walking just four in 15 innings.
Tolle’s goal in the offseason was to refine his secondary offerings, and the Sox did see some progress during Spring Training.
As for Gray, the Sox were waiting for results of the MRI he had on Tuesday. Gray, who has dealt with right hamstring issues in the past, is confident the injury will be short term.
“Overall, I feel as I hoped and expected to feel. There’s a little bit of soreness there, but it’s not that bad,” said Gray. “Overall, the way I feel is frustrated, but also I feel good. Frustrated because I’m going to probably miss a couple of starts, but I feel good because overall in the grand scheme of it, I feel good. That’s how I feel.”
Gray doesn’t think the MRI results will reveal any surprises.
“I don’t want to speculate too much,” Gray said. “I feel like it’s going to have a little white area, a pocket of inflammation there but nothing crazy. So yeah, I do still think it was the right decision. Unfortunately. I still do think it was the right decision to not continue yesterday because I threw that one warmup pitch, and when I lifted and I went down, it went, ‘Click, click.’”
Crawford, Sandoval injuries further compromise starting depth
Heading into the season, there was talk the Sox had an excess of starting pitching. But injuries to Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval have compromised the team’s rotation depth.
Veterans Crawford (right wrist surgery) and Sandoval (UCL reconstruction) both didn’t pitch last season, but they were making steady progress throughout Spring Training. However, they’ve both had setbacks in recent weeks.
Crawford made one Minor League rehab start, but he was recalled from the assignment with flexor tendon irritation.
“I did get an image as a precautionary measure,” Crawford said. “Structurally … everything is good. Currently I'm shut down and waiting on strength to come back up to the baseline, and it's trending in the right direction. So hopefully I’ll be throwing soon.”
Sandoval made two rehab starts but was shut down with biceps soreness. Oviedo has been on the injured list since April 3 with a right elbow strain.
Duran again odd man out
In Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida, the Red Sox have five everyday players for four lineup spots (outfield positions plus DH).
Of late, Duran has been the odd man out against lefties. But on Tuesday, Duran didn’t start against Yankees righty Luis Gil.
Instead, Yoshida was the DH for the second straight day.
With lefty ace Max Fried pitching for New York on Wednesday, it appears the earliest Duran will be back in the lineup is Thursday against fireballing righty Cam Schlittler.
“Masa is swinging the bat well, taking his walks, putting together good at-bats,” said Cora. “It was his turn to play.”
And Duran?
“Chasing pitches,” Cora said. “Early on, he was taking walks, and now he’s chasing. We’ve got to make sure we swing at the right ones.”