Boston Red Sox’ pitcher Chris Sale is back on the disabled list due to issues with his shoulder. The Red Sox placed Sale on the disabled list earlier this month due to “mild shoulder inflammation,” but the issue seemed like it was taken care of. Still, after one healthy start against the Baltimore Orioles Sunday, the 29-year-old All-Star still has problems with his shoulder.
“It’s definitely less than it was last time,” – Sale told reporters prior to the game against Tampa Bay. “It didn’t bounce back, wasn’t really responding the way we wanted it to. Given kind of where we are, it was kind of right call to give it some rest and stay on top of it. You don’t want to be playing catch-up during a time like this.“
Boston Red Sox didn’t want to take any chances with Chris Sale, preferring to have him in full health for what they hope will be a long postseason run.
“I think it’s a smart move,” – said Red Sox’ manager Alex Coar. “This guy is very important to what we’re trying to accomplish, and if he needs to skip one, two, three [starts], whatever, we’re willing to do that. He’ll be back. Like he said, he feels better than the last time we put him on the DL, so he’ll get his rest, he’ll go through treatment, and we’ll go from there.“
In order to fill Sale’s spot on the roster, the team recalled Brandon Workman from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Chris Sale is 12-4 with 1.97 ERA in 23 appearances this season. He is considered to be the leading favorite for Cy Young Award this year, due to the fact that he never got one despite excelling during his time in MLB.
Sale has seven consecutive MLB All-Star and led the American League in strikeouts two times. He is currently MLB’s career leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.12) while reaching becoming the fastest pitcher to record 1,500 strikeouts.
