Mitch Moreland returned from the injured list Friday and suffered a scare mere hours later.
Now, we wait to see just how severe Moreland’s ailment is.
In his first contest back from a 10-game absence, the first baseman left during the Boston Red Sox’s 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays due to right quad soreness.
According to Sox manager Alex Cora, Moreland’s quad started troubling him as he ran out a groundout in the fifth inning. Cora shared the latest on the 33-year-old, and it doesn’t sound overly encouraging.
“The second ground ball he felt it,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He went out and played defense and came in and told me about it. So, I was just talking to (head athletic trainer Brad Pearson), actually, and (Moreland) doesn’t feel great. So we’ll talk a little bit bit more when I’m done here with Dave (Dombrowski) and see what we’re going to do.”
With Steve Pearce also on the injured list, the Red Sox don’t have much flexibility at first base in terms of depth. While both Moreland and Pearce were on the IL, Michael Chavis primarily handled first base duties.
Moreland has been one of the bright spots for the Red Sox, so losing him yet again would be a pretty crushing blow for a team that’s trying to stay in the American League East race.
Here are some other notes from Friday’s Red Sox-Rays game:
— Mike Shawaryn made his major league debut Friday night, and some parts were good, while other parts were not so good.
The righty pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, striking out one. He returned for the ninth and allowed a leadoff solo shot to Kevin Kiermaier, but responded by striking out the next three batters he faced.
— For a while now the Red Sox have struggled with men on base, and that troubling trend continued Friday. The Red Sox were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, leaving five on base. On a night where Rays starter Yonny Chirinos was dealing, that’s unacceptable.
— Josh Smith was announced as the starter for Game 1 of Saturday’s double-header at Fenway Park.
— The Red Sox now trail the Rays by six games in the standings. They still have three more chances to narrow that gap before the weekend is over.
