After being scratched from his start on Monday against the Blue Jays with back spasms, Red Sox starter Josh Beckett received three partial cortisone injections in his back, WBZ TV reports.
Beckett had small amounts of cortisone injected intro trigger points around the muscle in his upper left back where the spasms occurred. A team source told the Boston Herald that the procedure is not considered to be dangerous because the cortisone is injected into the muscle and not the cartilage.
The problem does not seem to be a serious one, as Beckett believes he will make his next scheduled start.
“Absolutely, I think I’ll make my next start,” Beckett told the Herald on Tuesday. “I think if I had to – and I don’t think we’re going to need this – but I could go sooner if I needed to than Saturday. I think right now, we’re just kind of looking at Saturday to hopefully set things up.”
The recent 10-day road trip the Red Sox endured could be to blame for the discomfort Beckett experienced, and he pointed to the poor sleeping conditions of the road as the source for the spasms.
“Three different crappy beds on the road, one [day] getting in at 5 in the morning, and I just don’t think that stuff really sat well with my back,” Beckett told the Herald. “It’s unfortunate that you wake up on the day you start and don’t really feel well enough to be able to do that. I think we made the right decision, and I feel a lot better today.”
