BOSTON — The Red Sox don’t expect Roman Anthony to play Tuesday night against the Royals, but that doesn’t mean the rookie is expected to miss much time with the back injury that caused him to be pulled from the lineup just minutes before first pitch Monday.
Anthony, who was scratched and replaced by Wilyer Abreu shortly before the start of an 8-5 Red Sox win, will once again be held out Tuesday but could return as soon as Wednesday in the series finale against Kansas City. He’s day-to-day with what the Red Sox are calling “mid-back tightness” and, as of now, not a candidate to be placed on the injured list.
“Tight back,” said manager Alex Cora. “I’ll stay away from him tomorrow… He’ll be OK to play tomorrow but he took today and I’ll give him tomorrow, too.”
Anthony played all 28 innings of Boston’s weekend sweep over the Astros with no issue and felt 100% throughout the day Monday. Things changed as he went through pregame drills on the foul line Monday. Anthony described the discomfort as “super sudden.”
NESN cameras caught Anthony wincing and grabbing at his back during pregame warm-ups.
“Everything felt normal all day and I felt something as I was stretching on the line,” he said. “Just figured we’d be cautious with it and was super uncomfortable. I relayed that quickly and we decided we were going to shut it down.”
Anthony was upbeat about his prognosis after the game. The Red Sox play twice more against the Royals at home before having Thursday off ahead of a two-city, six-game road trip to San Diego and Houston.
“I’ll get with the training staff and figure that out, but I’m already definitely trending in the right direction and feeling better than it was earlier,” Anthony said.
In Anthony’s place, Abreu got a rare start against a left-hander in new Royals starter Bailey Falter. Taking the third spot in the lineup after Anthony was scratched, Abreu went 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI single while making a clutch throw to prevent the Royals from getting within two runs when he gunned down Nick Loftin trying to score on a Bobby Witt Jr. single in the eighth.
“Credit to Willy for having my back there and coming in and doing what he did,” Anthony said.
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