Red Sox’s Alex Cora Addresses Injuries To Boston’s Bullpen, Infield

BOSTON — The Red Sox have been bit by the injury bug all across the diamond during the first half of the season, causing the team to quickly adapt in order to stay on track.

Boston was tasked to make a plethora of bullpen moves Sunday and placed left-hander Joely Rodríguez on the 15-day injured list, optioned Ryan Sherriff to Triple-A Worcester and elevated Kaleb Ort and Brennan Bernardino as corresponding recalls.

Doing so before Sunday’s contest with the Tampa Bay Rays, Red Sox manager Alex Cora addressed several roster injuries, including those hampering the team’s bullpen depth.

“The Joely situation hopefully (is) something similar to Chris (Sale) early on — that there’s nothing more than 15 days,” Cora explained. “Just talking to him, he felt well throughout the day and then when he got on the mound to get ready or when he started to get ready, he felt good. So, it is what it is. It’s the grind of the weekend and we just got to be ready for today.”

One of Boston’s other bullpen arms, right-hander John Schreiber, suffered a right teres major strain after delivering 14 consecutive scoreless appearances. But it’s possible he could make another stride as soon as Monday.

“(He’s) just getting better,” Cora shared. “There’s a good chance that he starts playing catch tomorrow. So we’ll see how he is with that.”

However, the bullpen isn’t the only area that has forced the Red Sox to adapt.

With Enmanuel Valdez continuing to show promise at the plate, making an earlier-than-expected jump to the big leagues, Cora chimed in about Boston’s initial go-to second baseman coming into the season: Christian Arroyo. Arroyo has played just 27 games with the Red Sox this season and landed on the 10-day injured list with right hamstring tightness May 7.

“We haven’t talked to him today,” Cora revealed. “We’ll sit down with him and see where we’re at and what we’re gonna do.”

Another infielder, Yu Chang, hit the injured list with a left hamate fracture and has since been on a rehab assignment with Double-A Portland. Similar to Arroyo’s situation, Chang’s status remains a waiting game.

“We’re waiting on him to see how he feels,” Cora said. “He hit off the Trajekt yesterday. See how he reacts today. Obviously, with him tomorrow we’re gonna be here tomorrow, too. So the hope is for him to go on Tuesday, but obviously to see how he feels.”