The Boston Red Sox might have seen the last of Steven Wright on the mound in 2016.
Red Sox manager John Farrell announced before Saturday’s game against the Oakland Athletics that the knuckleballer officially was scratched from his next start, which would have been Tuesday against the San Diego Padres, with a shoulder injury he suffered Aug. 7. But beyond that, Wright is unsure if he’ll pitch again this season.
“I don’t want to be in a position where my condition is not where it needs to be, so I’m not going to rule that out, especially at this point,” Wright said, per the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich. “We’ve got a month left plus playoffs, but I’ve got to get to the point where I feel like I can go out there. I know I’m not going to get it to 100 percent like it was pre-injury, but I’ve got to get closer than what it was.”
Wright will see a specialist in Los Angeles this week, per Drellich, and the Red Sox should learn the severity of his injury.
“He was able to make the two previous starts, even with some downtime,” Farrell said. “The building back, the ability to get to nearly 100 pitches — that doesn’t suggest that there’s something severe here, and yet, he doesn’t feel quite right.”
Until then, Clay Buchholz will start in Wright’s place, at least for Tuesday. Buchholz was effective in the three spot starts he made in August, allowing only one run through at least six innings in the last two.
Thumbnail photo via Kelvin Kuo/-USA TODAY Sports Images
