BOSTON -- As the Red Sox welcomed Masataka Yoshida back from the 60-day injured list for his season debut as the designated hitter for Wednesday night’s game against the Rockies, there were immediate questions about how manager Alex Cora will mix and match his suddenly crowded roster of productive position players.
“Everybody’s on board,” Cora said prior to the series finale. “Everybody understands what we’re all about, what we're trying to accomplish. And there's no complaints.”
Nor were there any once the contest started. The Red Sox kept on rolling, riding the latest sparkling outing from Lucas Giolito and another batch of timely hits to their sixth win in a row, downing the Rockies, 10-2, to complete a three-game sweep at Fenway Park.
Yoshida, playing his first game since Sept. 27, 2024, made himself right at home, going 3-for-4 with an RBI.
This, after a Minor League rehab assignment that lasted just five games. With Yoshida’s first swing of the season, he ripped a single to center on a 2-0 count. In his second swing of the season two innings later, Yoshida came through with an RBI single to right off the mitt of first baseman Michael Toglia. And in his final at-bat of the night, Yoshida hooked a ground-rule double into the corner in right.
“It felt great,” Yoshida said.
With Yoshida back in the fold and Alex Bregman expected to be activated from the injured list at some point before the All-Star break (no earlier than Friday), Cora will now have daily decisions to make.
Center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, in the midst of a six-game hitting streak during which he hit .417 with six doubles, three three homers and eight RBIs, got a night off on Yoshida’s first game back against Rockies righty Antonio Senzatela. Boston optioned Nate Eaton to Triple-A Worcester and transferred righty Nick Burdi to the 60-day IL in corresponding roster moves.
“Rafaela’s not going to play anymore,” Cora said, tongue firmly planted in cheek, prior to the game.
Yes, Rafaela is still going to play -- a lot. The fact of the matter is that there will be a rotating system of talented everyday-caliber players for the outfield and DH.
With Rafaela out, Wilyer Abreu was back in after a night off on Tuesday, and hammered a two-run homer to right. Jarren Duran, who was deployed as a pinch-hitter on Monday, responded with homers in each of the last two games after returning to the lineup.
“Happy to have Masa back,” Cora said. “That's a big at-bat for us. You saw the difference today in how long the lineup was and that's without Ceddanne in the lineup. We have to figure out who is going to play and all that stuff. But I think it's the deepest lineup we’ve had in a while here.”
While Yoshida will see most of his playing time at DH against righties, he won’t necessarily start against every right-hander.
“He’ll be part of the mix,” Cora said. “The group. We’re talking about Wily [Abreu], Rafaela, Jarren [Duran] and Masa.”
Interestingly, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect Roman Anthony wasn’t mentioned as part of the rotation system.
“He's playing, yeah,” Cora said. “He’ll get off-days like everybody else, but he’s playing most of the games.”
Anthony, who belted two more hits on Wednesday, had received most of his playing time at DH since Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants on June 15. But Anthony made his first career home start in left field on Wednesday and played his first carom off the Monster like a veteran, firing to first to hold Jordan Beck to a single.
Duran, who’s Boston’s primary left fielder so far this season, moved to center for the finale against Colorado and started a perfectly executed 8-6-2 out at the plate on a double off the wall by Toglia to end the fourth inning.
It is unclear if Cora will eventually deploy some out-of-the box options like giving Rafaela some spot starts at second base.
“There's conversations,” Cora said. “We haven't decided if we’re going to do that.”
Meanwhile, Yoshida did some drills with a first-base mitt on Wednesday, something he started doing a few weeks ago. Could that happen in a game?
“We haven’t talked about that yet,” Yoshida said.
When it comes to Yoshida, his bat has always been his calling card.
Yoshida, who will turn 32 on Tuesday, has slashed .287/.344/.435 with 25 homers in 249 games since signing a five-year, $90 million deal before the 2023 season.
The labral repair that Yoshida underwent on his right shoulder following last season was an issue that nagged at him in August 2023. It is the reason he was used exclusively at DH in ‘24.
“To be honest, there were some down times along the way,” Yoshida said. “Ultimately, I just wanted to be back here stronger than ever and I think I was able to accomplish that.”