BOSTON -- Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman is headed to the 10-day injured list with a strained right quad.
“Significant injury,” manager Alex Cora said between games of Saturday’s doubleheader. “He’s going to be out for a while. Very similar to ’21. So I’m not going to give you a timetable, but hopefully trust in our medical staff, it’s sooner rather than later. But he’s going to be out for a while.”
Bregman missed about 2 1/2 months in 2021 while with the Astros because of a left quad strain.
“It’s significant,” Cora said. “But like I said before, if we really believe we’re good, we have to keep going and keep playing good baseball and keep winning games.”
Bregman, who underwent an MRI earlier Saturday, said he was surprised by the diagnosis.
“It is what it is and now try and take it day by day and crush rehab,” Bregman said.
“It felt better [Friday]. Then [Friday] night I couldn’t really fall asleep. It started to hurt pretty good, and then after the MRI, found out it was pretty severely strained, and now it’s time to focus on rehab. But, yeah, neither of [the quad injuries] really felt that good.”
The Red Sox made the move official after their 6-5 walk-off win in Game 1 of their doubleheader on Saturday vs. the Orioles. The club recalled No. 2 prospect Marcelo Mayer from Triple-A Worcester and transferred first baseman Triston Casas to the 60-day IL in corresponding moves.
Bregman, Boston’s most consistent player in his first season with the team, left Friday’s win over Baltimore in the bottom of the fifth inning with right quad tightness.
Cora said Bregman felt worse than he had expected when he arrived at the clubhouse that morning.
“I saw him this morning,” Cora said. “He was like, ‘It’s worse than I thought.’”
Entering Saturday’s games, Bregman was leading American League third basemen with a .553 slugging percentage, a .385 on-base percentage, 35 RBIs and 17 doubles. He was also tied for first among AL third basemen with 11 home runs and third with a .299 average.
“Yeah, it’s horrible,” Bregman said of the timing of the injury in a season with so much promise. “There’s nothing else to do besides try and get better every single day and focus on the rehab and dominate that and try and stack as many good days as possible and get back as soon as you can. It’s just day by day. There’s no timetable for it, so just focus on the next day.”
Bregman injured his leg when he turned at first base on a single to left field, immediately signaling to the dugout that there was an issue. Nick Sogard moved from first base to third, replacing Bregman in Friday’s 19-5 win over the Orioles, and Sogard was in the starting lineup at third base for Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Losing Bregman for an extended time will not be easy.
“We’ll be OK. Obviously, it’s a big part of our offense,” Cora said. “We just got to find ways to score runs in a different way. And we’re prepared for that. Obviously, a different look in the lineup today because of [Bregman’s] knee. We’ll probably mix and match a little more, be more aggressive in certain areas, pinch-hitting and all that, but we got to get to work. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. That’s the nature of the business.”
Boston has several in-house options to take Bregman’s place. In addition to Sogard, some others are Cedanne Rafaela (“in case of emergency,” Cora said), Kristian Campbell and Mayer, their highly prized prospect, who has played four games (31 innings) at third base for Worcester this season. Mayer got the start at third, batting sixth for his Major League debut in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader.
One of those options, however, will not be Rafael Devers, Boston’s three-time All-Star and former third baseman before Bregman’s arrival this offseason.
“No,” Cora said.
After some controversy in Spring Training, Devers accepted a move to DH. He had two homers and a career-high eight RBIs in Friday’s game. He is one homer shy of tying Jim Rice (213) for the most home runs in Red Sox history by a player 28 years old or younger. In 21 May games, Devers has 29 RBIs, slashing .423/.521/.756 and leading the Majors in RBIs, average, on-base percentage and OPS over that stretch, as well as leading the AL in slugging.
"He’s the best DH in the American League right now,” Cora said. “If he keeps [continuing] to do this, he’s going to be in the All-Star Game as a DH, he’s going to win a Silver Slugger as a DH. So where we're at right now, this is where we’re going. We made a decision and we’ll continue to talk. I’m not saying we’re going to close the door and all that, you know, but we feel very comfortable with Raffy Devers as the DH.”