Alex Cora Defends Kiké Hernández After Positive COVID-19 Test

Kiké Hernández testing positive for COVID-19 really couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Boston Red Sox, but it’s not because he had scant regard for the virus or league’s protocols.

The Sox super-utilityman tested positive for the virus Friday. Fellow utilityman Christian Arroyo was deemed a close contact, so he too joins Hernández on the COVID-19 related injured list. Earlier this in the week it looked like the Red Sox finally were going to have just about everybody available, but now Hernández and Arroyo are out “for an extended period” and Hunter Renfroe is on the bereavement list.

But according to Sox manager Alex Cora, Hernández’s positive test was not the product of him being relaxed about the protocols.

“It’s not Kiké’s fault,” Cora told reporters Friday, via The Boston Globe. “I know for a fact that he’s been great about all this stuff and taking care of his family for obvious reasons. … It’s something that we don’t control. We’re fighting an invisible enemy.”

The obvious reason Cora alludes to is the fact that Hernández and his wife had a baby girl in January, so he has a seven-month-old back home.

It is helpful that Hernández is vaccinated. For one, any symptoms he has will likely be tempered by the vaccine, and being vaccinated also shortens the time he needs to be on the COVID IL.

When exactly he and Arroyo will be able to return remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it’s a gut-punch to the Red Sox, even if it is just tough luck.