Alex Cora ‘Not In Rush’ Getting Xander Bogaerts Back To Red Sox Lineup

For the second consecutive day, Xander Bogaerts is out of the lineup as the Boston Red Sox host the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

The shortstop was a late scratch Friday in the first game of the series against Toronto, still feeling the dive he took in attempt to snag a single from Alex Bregman against Houston on Thursday.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora anticipated Bogaerts would sit Saturday, with expectations to return Sunday. Ahead of Saturday’s game against Toronto, Cora provided an update.

“He’s doing OK. I just saw him walking in,” Cora told reporters pregame. “He’s going to get treatment, obviously stay away from him today. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow. I’m not in a rush with this one because of how important he is. I think in ’18, but ’18 was totally different, right? He had that little fracture. We were smart about that and you saw what happened. If we have to stay away from him tomorrow, we’ll do it, too. The hope is for him to play tomorrow. He hasn’t run yet. He hasn’t moved around. He just got here to get treatment and he was like, ‘I’m feeling better,’ but obviously he has to go through the whole process and we’ll know more a little bit later in the day.”

With the season he’s having, batting .325 with 73 hits and an on-base percentage of .382, the Red Sox certainly don’t want Bogaerts to come back before he’s ready.

Boston takes on Toronto at 4:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, which you can Watch Live on NESN.