BOSTON (AP) — Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story will have what is likely season-ending surgery on his dislocated left shoulder and right-hander Nick Pivetta has a strained a right flexor, the latest in a spate of elbow injuries among pitchers.
Story, a two-time All-Star, was placed on the 10-day injured list after dislocating his left shoulder Friday at the Los Angeles Angels. Projected recovery time is six months.
“Difficult to speculate beyond that,” Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow said before Tuesday's home-opening loss against Baltimore. “But you can kind of do the math there.”
Story wore a sling when he was introduced as part of the team's opening day ceremonies and fought back tears when he spoke postgame.
“I'm frustrated. I don't really understand it,” he said.
Pivetta was placed on the 15-day IL, a move retroactive to Saturday.
“We’ve got to move on,” Cora said after Tuesday's loss. “I know it sounds hard, but this is the nature of the game. We’re going to miss him, yeah. As a leader, as a player as a base runner, as a hitter. But we have to move on. Whoever is going to play short that day, just play up to who you are. Don’t try to be Trevor Story. There’s only one of those.”
Story’s injury occurred when hit the ground hard while making a backhand stop on Mike Trout’s single in the fourth inning. Story writhed in pain on the outfield grass after landing with most of his body weight on his shoulder.
“You always try to be optimistic that it went out and came back in,” Story said. “It was more serious than we had hoped for. Hard to imagine really.”
The 31-year-old Story, in the third season of a $140 million, six-year contract, was hitting .226 with four RBIs in eight games. He is a .265 hitter with 177 and 534 RBIs over nine major league seasons but has a .227 average and .681 OPS in two-plus seasons with the Red Sox. He was limited to 94 games in 2022 by a bruised right hand sustained when hit by a pitch from Tampa's Corey Kluber and bruised left heel, and to 43 games last year, when he has surgery in January to repair a torn UCL and didn't make his season debut until Aug. 8.
“Very significant,” Breslow said of Story's loss. "Not going to hide from what he's meant to this team defensively and had full confidence offensively that he was going to contribute as well with what he was able to do in spring training. I think fortunately he's emerged as a leader of this team and there's still going to be a way for him to positively impact it.
“Unfortunately it just doesn't seem like it's going to be on the field right now.”
While Story is out, manager Alex Cora said, the plan is to platoon players at shortstop and second base.
“I think right now we’re committed to giving the internal options a chance,” Breslow said. “We’ll give this some run. ... It makes sense to let this play out a bit and we’ll continue to evaluate.”
Pivetta (1-1, 0.82 ERA) has made two starts this season, allowing one run and eight hits over 11 innings with 13 strikeouts. He last pitched April 3 at Oakland. and Breslow said Pivetta came to the training staff after having issues recovering between starts.
He was scheduled to start Wednesday. The Red Sox recalled left-hander Brennan Bernardino from Triple-A Worcester to take Pivetta's place on the roster.
Breslow said he's confident remaining players can maintain early season success.
“It’s tough. We’re balancing excitement, obviously, with the way that we’ve played for the last 10 days, the development of the pitching staff with losing some key contributors to those wins," he said. "And we’re potentially talking about two very different timelines here. Nonetheless, guys in the clubhouse feel and behave in a way that is very connected with each other. ... Everyone is very familiar with the road that Trevor has taken for the past two years in regards to being out on the field. So I think more than anything we just feel for him.”
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