The Boston Red Sox haven’t announced a starting pitcher for Tuesday night’s game against the visiting Seattle Mariners, but it won’t be ace Sonny Gray.
Gray, who is 16-4 with a 2.82 ERA, initially was scheduled to start the game, but the Red Sox (75-63) announced Monday the right-hander will be given extra rest and won’t take the mound until Saturday in Baltimore.
“I feel fine,” Gray said. “I think it’s just (a matter) of taking a few days, getting my body recovered, fully recovered, and that was it. I feel really good. About a month ago, we talked about it and we talked about, ‘Let’s re-evaluate when we get to here,’ so that’s what we did and just made the decision to take a couple of days.
“That kind of puts you on track for September and moving forward. To be honest, I needed a couple of days. I’m not scared to admit that. But I feel good.”
Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy acknowledged that finding additional recovery time for Gray is important.
“We all knew there was probably going to be a time when we needed to give him a little bit of a breather,” Tracy said. “That’s where we’re at with that, to get him some rest with his body and make sure that he’s full go when we get down the stretch.”
Tuesday could be a bullpen game for Boston, or the Red Sox could call up a pitcher from Triple-A Worcester.
“There are a lot of possibilities,” Tracy said.
Right-hander Bryan Woo (9-9, 4.36 ERA) will start for Seattle (64-74), which fell 9-8 to Boston in 10 innings on Monday. Woo is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two career appearances (both starts) against the Red Sox.
Monday’s loss stretched Seattle’s losing streak to five games.
One of the key plays during Monday’s game came in the ninth inning, when Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez misplayed Roman Anthony’s line drive. The result was a triple for Anthony, who ended up scoring to send the game into extra innings.
“It’s super-quick; it’s right at you,” Rodriguez told The Seattle Times. “My instincts told me to go for it. And in between, I feel like it’s not an option. So I just went for it. Couldn’t get it. Unfortunately, that ended up costing a run for us.
“It’s frustrating, you know. When we’re all trying to get things (rolling), trying to build momentum and have a game where we had like so many things offensively that we did well, and then just kind of feel like a little shot in the foot right there.”
Boston shortstop Trevor Story had the game-winning RBI, a single, in the 10th inning Monday. He also had a two-run double in the eighth. Story has four hits in two games since returning from a sports hernia.
“I’m pumped for him,” Tracy said. “To see him take the at-bats he’s taken here in his first two games back, it’s been fun to see. … Any player will tell you if you get a walk-off hit, you feel like you’ve made a massive contribution.”
–Field Level Media
