What’s the worst thing you would have imagined popping up on tonight’s MLB Gameday feed before the game started? Jarren Duran pops out to foul territory, caught by Marlins Man would be pretty bad. I wouldn’t want to see On-field injury delay, Payton Tolle overly aggressive hug either.
But I don’t think I would have imagined anything worse than this:
Yes. Andruw Monasterio — the last man on the Red Sox bench, the man who has just 2 hits in his last 32 at-bats, the man who many fans would have preferred
be passed over on the roster in favor of Braiden Ward, who has never played in a Major League game in his life — pinch-hit for Roman Anthony. In the sixth inning.
The Red Sox have not yet said anything about Anthony’s injury status. But we don’t really need them to, do we? Anthony’s career, young though it may be, has been defined by two things: (1) Precocious brilliance at the plate, (2) A gut-wrenching inability to stay on the field. Anthony struggled with a bizarrely stubborn hand injury for most of the season. He returned to put up an OPS just a tick under .800 over the last few weeks, but appeared to still be battling the injury as of Game 162:
His first two plate appearances against Cam Schlittler tonight both ended in awkward check-swing strikeouts. He may not get another at-bat in this series.
