Eduardo Nunez showed a lot of guts attempting to play through a knee injury during the 2017 Major League Baseball playoffs.
But if the Boston Red Sox infielder could do it all over again, he would.
Nunez suffered a PCL injury in his right knee late in the regular season. After one failed comeback, he eventually suited up for Game 1 of Boston’s American League Division Series matchup with the Houston Astros. But in his first at-bat, Nunez aggravated the injury while leaving the batter’s box before collapsing to the ground in pain at first base — his season was over.
And now, with the benefit of hindsight, Nunez wishes he’d just stayed off the field.
“For sure. For sure,” Nunez recently told NBC Sports Boston’s Evan Drellich. “I wish I didn’t try. It made my injury worse.”
Nunez, who also told Drellich his knee now feels “pretty good,” is with the Red Sox for a four-game series at Minute Maid Park, the site where his 2017 season ended. So, is the difficult memory weighing on his mind?
“No, I don’t think about it,” Nunez said. “It was just bad considering I wasn’t ready at that time. And we had to try. Bad time. Hopefully, everything (has gone) away now.”
The Red Sox need Nunez now more than ever. With second baseman Dustin Pedroia going back on the disabled list Saturday afternoon, Nunez, who was expected to serve in a bench role upon Pedroia’s initial return, could see regular starts for the foreseeable future.
