ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Boston Red Sox received some encouraging news on the injury front Wednesday afternoon.
X-rays on second baseman Trevor Story and Matt Strahm were negative, according to the team. Story suffered a right hand contusion and Strahm suffered a left wrist contusion after both players were smoked with baseballs in Tuesday’s loss to the Rays. Story and Strahm both underwent X-rays at a local hospital Tuesday night.
It’s still unclear if Story and/or Strahm will avoid the injured list. As of now, no IL moves are planned, according to a source, but the Red Sox are waiting to see how both players are feeling when they arrive at Tropicana Field on Wednesday.
Story left the game first. In the fifth inning, he took an ugly swing at an 89 mph sinker from Corey Kluber but the ball hit the top of his hand instead of the bat.
He immediately walked down the third-base line in pain as Manager Alex Cora and a team trainer came out to visit him. He left the game and Jeter Downs entered as a pinch hitter.
Strahm’s injury came an inning later. With two runners on and two outs in a 2-1 game, Taylor Walls smoked a 98 mph line drive up the middle and it hit Strahm. He gathered the ball and threw it away, then Franchy Cordero committed another throwing error throwing home as the Rays scored two runs. That would be the difference in the game in a 3-2 Tampa Bay win. Strahm was immediately taken out of the game.
The Red Sox already have 11 players on the injured list. Pitchers Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Whitlock will be activated Friday.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
