Drew Pomeranz Injury: Southpaw Has Encouraging Rehab Start With PawSox

It has been a bumpy road for Drew Pomeranz this season, but things looked pretty good for the Boston Red Sox left-hander Wednesday night in Rhode Island.

Pomeranz, who is recovering from left biceps tendinitis, made a rehab start with Triple-A Pawtucket on Wednesday, and it easily was his best rehab outing to date.

The southpaw allowed just one hit over six innings of work, surrendering one run with five strikeouts and a pair of walks. His lone hit and run was via a Jose Rondon solo homer to left. Pomeranz posted a perfect game over 3 1/3 innings and tossed 45 of his 69 pitches for strikes against a Charlotte Knights squad that exclusively was right-handed.

His velocity still hovered around 90 mph, but his breaking ball — which is devastating when he’s throwing it well — had far more bite to it.

Sox manager Alex Cora long has felt that mechanics have played a big part in Pomeranz’s issues, which have resulted in a 1-3 record with a 6.81 ERA to date in the big leagues this season. And though he’s working back through a health issue, something mechanically clearly was amiss, especially after a solid 2017 campaign.

Boston president Sam Kennedy indicated that some of the Red Sox’s trade deadline plans likely will center around how Pomeranz and fellow starter Steven Wright progress.

And while it may be early to say the Red Sox can count on Pomernaz sooner rather than later, given he previously allowed a combined nine runs on 13 hits over 9 1/3 innings in his three previous outings in the minors, Wednesday was a big step forward.