Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito leaves start early because of hamstring soreness; calls injury 'minor'
Lucas Giolito made his Grapefruit League debut on Tuesday as the Red Sox welcomed the Phillies to JetBlue Park. The 30-year-old hurler hasn’t pitched since last spring after he underwent season-ending internal brace surgery on his pitching elbow.
He only tossed one inning where he walked two of the first three hitters he faced. In total he surrendered two earned runs off one hit (a double) with the two free passes while striking out one. He threw 24 pitches, 10 for strikes.
His debut was cut short after just one inning due to left hamstring tightness.
“I adjusted my front leg mechanics a little bit just to get through and compete through the inning,” said Giolito. ”It wasn’t pretty obvious, but it felt good to be back out there competing so we’ll just assess [the situation] and whatever the [trainers say] over there.”
Giolito was optimistic that the issue was minor and that he will not miss any time. Boston will have him undergo an MRI on Wednesday to confirm the severity of the injury.
“I’ve pulled my hamstring in my career a few times, and it feels very minor,” Giolito told reporters, including MassLive’s Sean McAdam. “That’s what (the training staff) is saying based on the initial testing. It’s just an annoying little setback, I guess.”
Giolito’s projected to be part of the Red Sox Opening Day roster, pitching towards the back-end of the rotation. With the Sox down two starters in Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford, the righty admitted the hamstring tightness was “frustrating” and wasn’t sure if the injury will prevent him from making his next scheduled start.
“You can’t have that attitude,” Giolito said. “It is what it is. Things happen, injuries happen. I wouldn’t even categorize this as an injury, really, at this point. It just felt like it got tight on me. We’ll do the protocol, get it looked at and it shouldn’t be too bad.”
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