Casas left the game after his first at-bat against the Pirates on Saturday.
Add Triston Casas’s name to the growing list of injured Red Sox to start the season.
Casas left Saturday evening’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates early on, after just his first plate appearance. At some point during the at-bat, he began experiencing rib discomfort. He earned a walk, and did not return.
Casas was still getting tests done while Alex Cora spoke postgame, but Boston’s manager seemed concerned about his young, slugging first baseman.
“No, he’s not doing OK … we’re checking on him, we’ll know more over the course of the night,” Cora said. “When he came in [to the dugout], he said ‘I can play defense, but you need somebody to hit for me.’”
Still early in the year, the Red Sox have faced a steep uphill battle plugging holes for both short-term and long-term injuries. Trevor Story was the most major one to occur, as the short-stop had to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.
Rafael Devers, Tyler O’Neill, and Vaughn Grissom are also out of the lineup currently. In terms of pitching, starters Nick Pivetta and Garrett Whitlock are temporarily unavailable in the rotation. Not to mention Lucas Giolito’s season ended before it began after an injury in spring training.
During the first few series of the year, Boston exceeded the admittedly low expectations set for it by fans and media alike. However, this year’s Red Sox team isn’t exactly built to handle one injury to an infielder, much less three or four at a time.
Cora patched together a lineup to finish Saturday’s game and beat the Pirates, but any long-term injury to Casas will put Boston in a bind, particularly at the plate. He leads the team in OPS (.857), is tied for the most RBI (10), and has the second most home runs (6).
