It seems the Boston Red Sox bullpen gets thinner and thinner by the day.
After Zack Kelly landed on the injured list, Chris Martin joined him there Sunday with the Red Sox placing the right-handed reliever on the 15-day IL due to right shoulder inflammation.
Martin said he initially tried to push through the injury but with the health of his shoulder deteriorating, a trip to the IL felt inevitable.
"The shoulder started getting weak there probably week and a half ago," Martin told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "With them things it's early so you're not real sure if it's something you can get through. It just kind of started getting worse and worse. Kind of got real sore one day coming in here. I can't remember what day it was. I checked it out. My shoulder was pretty weak. So, we got it looked at. It was a little bit of inflammation."
Martin, who signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox this offseason, is just seven appearances into his tenure with Boston. In seven innings pitched, he allowed two earned runs on eight hits while posting a 2.57 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP and three holds. He last pitched for the Red Sox on Wednesday, allowing one run in one inning of work.
Despite the solid start to his debut campaign with the Red Sox, Martin felt the best course of action even this early into the season was to take a trip to the IL and he's optimistic that he'll benefit from the time off.
"I think catching it early is important," Martin said. "Obviously, you can keep trying to pitch and make it worse and make your time longer on the IL. Made a decision to go ahead and knock this out and get it right. Should be a pretty quick process here."
With Martin sidelined, the Red Sox brought up Jake Faria while also claiming a lefty reliever off waivers to add depth to their organization.
