Keep those fingers crossed, but it looks like we may have dodged the worst case scenario in the Ceddanne Rafaela injury department. Ceddy spoke after the game last night and downplayed the severity of the incident, saying the he only experienced a little cramping, possibly due to dehydration. “Every time I get pulled out of the game, I’m not happy,” Rafaela said. “But hopefully it’s just something minor.” (Ian Browne, MLB.com)
Rafaela did undergo an MRI today, but everything must have come back clean,
as he’s already back in the lineup:
Speaking of injury scares, Aroldis Chapman returned to the mound last night for the first time in 10 days, as he’s been battling a sore lat. It took him only 12 pitches to end the game, so it looks like he’s all good. “I felt good,” said Chapman through a translator. “I was happy to be able to go out there. I felt like my pitches and my stuff were very good today, so I’m happy to be back.” (Sean McAdam, MassLive)
There was speculation that, with a doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow, the Sox may attempt to use their extra roster spot to get Garrett Crochet into a game before the playoffs start. That’s not going to happen, but he is going to throw another bullpen session this weekend before the team decides what to do with him. “What is he able to give you?” Chad Tracy said. “Can he give you two games? Can he give you multiple innings? Can he go back to back? All those questions have to be answered, not only for his own health, but for our team and what puts us in the best position.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
Crochet might not make it back to the mound. But that’s not stopping one ESPN insider from picking them to win the AL pennant. (Jorge Castillo, Alden Gonzalez, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers, ESPN)
If the Sox do make it to the World Series, Sonny Gray will have played a big part in it. And, in doing so, he’ll have proved a lot of people who thought he couldn’t hack it in Boston wrong. “When I left New York in 2018, I told myself that I’m going to go back to a big market at some point in my career. Especially after learning what I learned and having the experiences that I had [in New York], I knew I could [succeed] anywhere after that. So I always told myself that I was going to [pitch again in a large market].” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
