BOSTON — Another day, another Red Sox player on the mend.
The Red Sox had a scare Wednesday when both David Ortiz and Mookie Betts exited their game against the New York Yankees with injuries. Hanley Ramirez was the victim in Thursday night’s 4-2 loss.
Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez hit Ramirez hard running to first base in the eighth inning, and Ramirez injured his lower back when he hit the ground. The first baseman initially stayed in the game but exited in the bottom half of the frame. Ramirez had been having a great game, having gone 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
“It’s unbelievable,” Ramirez said. “Every time I start getting hot, something happens. But I’m just going to keep grinding, and I think we’re in a good position. We cannot let those little things get into our head. We’ve just got to come back out there tomorrow and win the game.”
Ramirez underwent tests at Fenway Park and said his goal is to return Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, Red Sox manager John Farrell didn’t say whether that would happen.
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Here are some more notes from Thursday’s loss to the Yankees.
— The eighth inning was the turning point, as Brad Ziegler loaded the bases with three singles and one out. However, left fielder Andrew Benintendi also got his first taste of the majors when he misplayed a line-drive double off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury, which scored two runs to give the Yankees the lead.
“It went in the lights, but that’s no excuse,” a somber Benintendi said. “I should have caught it.”
The play initially was ruled an error on the 22-year-old, but the scoring changed after the game, giving Ziegler the earned runs.
“If you look at it, we just slid him over in that at-bat a little bit more to left-center,” Farrell said of the play. “And he ends up being almost right in the spot where the ball’s hit to him. It’s kind of a sinking line drive, low trajectory flight of the ball that’s in the lights, and he lost it in the lights.”
— Chris Young went 0-for-2 in his first rehab start in Pawtucket on Thursday. He’ll be back at it Friday but he’ll play five innings in the outfield. Young has been out since June 24 with a hamstring strain.
— David Ortiz came back from his shin injury Wednesday by hitting his major-league leading 37th double in his first at-bat. Thirty of them have come at Fenway.
— Eduardo Rodriguez apparently loves facing the Yankees, as he’s now 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA in six starts against them after holding New York to one run over seven innings Thursday. The lefty has excelled since returning from Pawtucket in mid-July.
“I think it’s about my knee,” Rodriguez said. “Now it’s normal. Now I’m just thinking to throw the pitches, and I know how the tipping stuff happened. I think it’s part of that. Just keep working.”
— Alex Rodriguez’s last at-bat in Boston was a dribbler of a groundout in the eighth inning. It did bring in a run, though.
Thumbnail photo via  Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
