Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale left his start against the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night after 3 2/3 innings due to left shoulder soreness.
Sale allowed one run on five hits while walking one and striking out six before Red Sox personnel pulled him from the game in the fourth inning.
“He’ll have an MRI (Friday) and we’ll know more,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Hoping for the best. Obviously it didn’t look great. (Velocity) was down in the second inning … it went from 95 to 90, so let’s wait and see.
“He wanted to finish it (the inning), but nah. Give it a shot, but after that you can’t be irresponsible.”
Since making at least 25 starts in each of his first three seasons with Boston, Sale’s career has been riddled with injuries. He entered Thursday with just 21 starts since the beginning of the 2021 season and missed the entirety of the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Last season was also a disaster, as Sale began 2022 on the 60-day injured list due to a rib stress fracture. He returned in July, only to fully get through one start. In his second outing, Sale took a comebacker on the mound and fractured the pinkie finger on his pitching hand.
The Red Sox then announced in August that Sale had surgery on his right wrist after a biking accident.
In 11 starts this season, including Thursday’s, Sale is 5-2 with a 4.58 ERA across 59 innings. He put together a strong May, going 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts.
Sale, 34, is in his 13th major league season. He is 119-77 with a 3.08 ERA in 334 games (254 starts) with the Chicago White Sox (2010-16) and Red Sox (2017-23).
–Field Level Media
