Red Sox Sending Reliever To Injured List For Third Time

The Boston Red Sox signed Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin and Joely Rodríguez over the offseason to rebuild the back-end of their bullpen.

Jansen made history early on and has been exactly what they expected. Martin has exceeded expectations, putting together his best season yet. Rodríguez … well, two out of three ain’t bad.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora revealed following Sunday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants that Rodríguez would be making another trip to the injured list, his third in 2023.

“He’s hurt,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “(He has a) tight hip, most likely going on the IL. He felt it (Saturday) and we thought he was making strides, but that wasn’t the case. He’ll be going on the IL (Monday).

“… He’s going with us (to Seattle) to get treatment. We don’t think its serious, but where we’re at right now we want to make sure he is okay. We don’t think it’s any more than 15 days. He just felt it yesterday warming up, last night it felt better but today he was moving and he felt it again. So we decided to stay away from him and he’s going on IL tomorrow.

The injury is just the latest in what has been a disappointing string of injuries for the 31-year-old.

Rodríguez started the season on the 60-Day IL with an oblique injury, eventually making his season debut on May 17. He appeared in five contests that month, but landed on the 15-Day IL with left shoulder inflammation. He returned from that injury on July 9 and made six appearances in July before going on the IL to round out the month.

In the 11 games he has pitched, Rodríguez has a 6.55 ERA in 11 innings.

The injury will leave Boston short on left-handed relievers, with Brennan Bernardino, Chris Murphy and Richard Bleier being the only southpaw’s remaining in the ‘pen. That could influence a few moves as the Red Sox approach the Aug. 1 Major League Baseball trade deadline.