Injured Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta flexor strain considered 'mild'
Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta has been an innings eater over the past three seasons for Boston. He’s logged 488 1/3 innings over 104 appearances (81 starts) since the start of the 2021 season. Now he’s dealing with a mild flexor strain in his right elbow.
Pivetta was placed on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday, and the chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, told reporters that his MRI revealed nothing more than a mild strain. There is no ligament damage, and currently the thought is that the righty will miss just a couple of weeks.
“That it’s not major is something that’s positive,” Pivetta said. “It’s negative that I have to miss time, but hopefully it’s a short amount of time and I can come back and continue to do my job.”
Pivetta told reporters that he had been dealing with some arm discomfort for some time and noticed it more following his last start in Oakland. He said he wasn’t bouncing back following the start like he typically does, which prompted him to meet with the staff and trainers.
Boston is hopeful that Pivetta will return when he’s eligible to come off the IL; the earliest date he can be activated is April 21.
Prior to the home opener at Fenway Park, the feeling was ominous regarding the status of Pivetta’s injury, but skipper Alex Cora seemed encouraged by the right-hander’s prognosis. Boston will shuffle its rotation, move Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck up a day, and use a spot starter on Saturday against the Angels.
One of the candidates for the start is WooSox’ righty Cooper Criswell, who owns a 0.87 ERA over two starts to begin the Triple-A season. Long-relievers Chase Anderson and Josh Winckowski are also options for Cora this weekend.
“It’s the good news out of the bad news,” Cora said. “I know he’s disappointed because this is a guy who likes to post every five days. When he’s not posting every five days, he wants to pitch every day. He wants to compete. It’s the smart thing to do, not only for the player but for the organization. We should be OK here if everything goes well with treatment. If it’s up to him, he’s going to keep pushing, pushing, pushing. That’s not smart at all.”
The Red Sox will monitor Pivetta over the next couple of weeks, and both he and the team are hopeful he can return to the rotation. The starting pitching depth options are dwindling for the Red Sox following the injuries to Pivetta and Lucas Giolito.
