Red Sox place left-handed reliever on 15-day injured list; Cam Booser activated; Liam Hendriks close to being shutdown for the year
The Red Sox will place left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation, the team announced on Wednesday.
An MRI revealed that Bernardino had “stuff” going on and that he was dealing with soreness related to the bone in his elbow and not the ligament, according to Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
Bernardino pitched in the seventh inning of the Red Sox’ 5-3 loss to the Orioles on Tuesday night. The southpaw was charged with two earned runs on two hits and a walk. He felt the soreness during the outing and underwent imagining on Wednesday morning.
“He’s been feeling something in the elbow area,” said Alex Cora. “There’s some stuff there, nothing that’s alarming. But it doesn’t make sense to push. The way they explained it, it’s kind of like soreness where the forearm and the biceps attach all the muscles. It’s bone-related; it’s not ligament-related. So I think a few days or a week will help him. I think it makes sense to take care of the player.”
Bernardino has appeared in 57 games this season. He is 4-3 with a 4.06 ERA.
Cam Booser was activated off the injured list; he had been on the shelf the last month with elbow soreness.
He pitched on a rehab assignment for the WooSox and the Portland Sea Dogs. The 32-year-old made his Major League debut on April 19 and is 2-2 with one save and owns a 3.00 ERA in 42 innings over 41 relief outings.
The Red Sox are "close" to shutting down recovering reliever Liam Hendriks. The righty, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year and had set a goal to return to the mound for the final two months of the season.
Hendriks has made a handful of rehab appearances for the WooSox and Sea Dogs and was set to pitch in back-to-back outings last week. Unfortunately, the veteran has felt stiffness in his elbow and has had soreness that hasn’t gone away.
“We’re still kind of in a holding pattern here,” said Cora of Hendriks. “As you know, we’re running out of time. At one point, we have to make a decision on what we’re going to do. That’s not expected, but it was always part of the process. It was always (a possibility) that that situation comes up, and we have to be smart about it.”
With 17 games left on the Red Sox schedule, Cora told reporters that the team is close to shutting down the Australian hurler.
“I do believe very close,” confirmed Cora.
