Andrew Benintendi’s tough season just got hit with some more bad news.
The Red Sox left fielder will hit the 10-day injured list with a strained rib cage he suffered in Boston’s 8-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
Manager Ron Roenicke opened his pregame Zoom press conference with the news.
“Last night when he fell down between the base paths he strained a right rib cage,” he told reporters. “And because of it we’re going to IL him. We had X-rays last night, there’s nothing broken. But today he’s gonna get some more evaluations on how he’s doing. So he’s on the IL. We brought up Ryan Weber to replace him. Just feeling that we’re OK (with) coverage in the outfield and we could use the other arm.”
As for replacements for the time being? Roenicke noted he spoke to J.D. Martinez about playing in the outfield, and “for sure” will have Tzu-Wei Lin out there. Jose Peraza also could play left field.
“We think we’re covered fine there,” Roenicke said.
The skipped noted he’s hopeful Benintendi’s IL stint won’t last longer than 10 days. But they’ll know more “after the tests” and “how he’ll come in tomorrow.”
The Red Sox take on the Rays at 7:30 p.m. ET at Fenway Park.