Here's What Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Had to Say About Chris Sale's Injury
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Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale will have an MRI on Friday after leaving Thursday's start early.
The lanky left-hander left the Red Sox game against the Cincinnati Reds after 3.2 innings with "left shoulder soreness." He had six strikeouts to that point.
After the game, manager Alex Cora spoke. You can see the comments in full from NESN below:
"Hoping for the best, obviously it didn't look great.... just wait and see."
This is certainly awful news for the Red Sox.
1) First, for Sale, he can't afford any more injuries. He missed all of 2020 and most of 2021 with Tommy John surgery, and then missed nearly all of 2022 with illness, getting hit by a line drive and breaking his wrist while falling off a bike. He's worked extremely hard to come back and he was visibly frustrated when he walked off the mound.
2) Second, the Red Sox can't afford to see him have to miss time. The Sox are 29-27 and in last place in the American League East, so they need as many useful pieces available as possible. Furthermore, Sale has been quite good recently. He had lowered his ERA to 4.58 before departing.
In this game, he had six strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Things started to get worrisome when a trainer came out to Sale in the fourth inning. His velocity had dipped from above 96 mph to as low as 91-92 mph, per reports. He stayed in the game initially but ultimately was forced to come out.
Should he need to miss time, recently demoted starters Nick Pivetta and Corey Kluber are options.
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