It’s been a long road back to the big leagues for Marco Hernandez.
Hernandez, who made his Major League Baseball debut in 2016, had the start of his career derailed by shoulder injuries beginning with a subluxation sustained in early May of 2017. Additional shoulder issues erased his entire 2018 season, and it wasn’t until Saturday when the 26-year-old finally returned to the Red Sox.
The Dominican-born infielder logged his first at-bat in two years in Game 1 of the Red Sox’s day-night doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Hernandez didn’t show any signs of rust as he roped a pinch-hit, ninth-inning double. While the two-bagger ultimately was all for naught in Boston’s eventual loss, Hernandez’s efforts in Game 2 held much more weight.
In his return to the Red Sox’s starting nine, Hernandez smacked an opposite-field, two-RBI double in the sixth inning of his team’s 5-1 win. For the fourth-year pro, it was a proud moment of hard work paying off.
“It’s been a blessing for me being able to play baseball again,” Hernandez said in a postgame interview with NESN’s Guerin Austin. “I was looking for something that I could drive and put a good swing on it and I hit the wall. I got lucky we have this wall here.
“I put in work every single day in spring training and I push myself now every single day and finally, I made it.”
Alex Cora’s praise for Hernandez extended beyond just the youngster himself.
“That was cool. He put the ball in play there, went the other way,” Cora said. “Wasn’t thinking big, you know, just put the ball in play the other way and good things are going to happen and he gets the double. He brought energy to the team, a smile to everybody. It’s cool to see. He played well. I’m very, very proud of him and like I said, the medical staff, too. They did an amazing job the past two years.”
It’s tough to project if Hernandez will have an extended role with the Red Sox as the season unfolds. But as we’ve seen with Michael Chavis, a player can force the issue by making the most of the opportunity. So as Boston continues to deal with injuries, Hernandez at least will have a chance to force Cora’s hand to keep him on the 25-man roster.
Here are some other notes from Saturday night’s Red Sox-Rays game:
— David Price’s hot stretch continued, as the left-hander allowed just one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts over six innings. Price now is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last six starts.
— Mookie Betts was the lone Red Sox starter to collect two hits, which included a double. The reigning American League MVP also scored two runs, which marked his 49th and 50th of the season.
— Andrew Benintendi, along with Betts, scored on Chavis’ two-RBI double in the third inning. Benintendi has scored a run in each of the last five games he’s played.
— Game 2 of the doubleheader served as just the third time this season Boston has won without hitting a home run.
— It only was fitting Price spun a gem in his 300th career start. The veteran southpaw reflected on the achievement after the game.
“That’s cool. I definitely take pride in that,” Price said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “I was drafted 12 years ago yesterday by the team I threw my 300th start against. So it kind of comes full circle in that sense. I want to take the ball every fifth day. I want to stay healthy. I want to give us a chance to win baseball games.”
