Dustin Pedroia out of Red Sox lineup with wrist injury, will travel to Boston for further evaluation

RED SOX : BASEBALL 2014
April 14,2014.












c/o Jason Mastrodonato
      The Republican

NEW YORK -- Already down their starting right fielder, third baseman and closer, the Boston Red Sox took another hit on Sunday when it was revealed that Dustin Pedroia has a wrist injury that's causing him too much pain to play.

Pedroia was in the original lineup for Sunday night's game against the New York Yankees but was a late scratch when his left wrist flared up during early batting practice.

With an off-day on Monday, the Red Sox will send Pedroia back to Boston where they hope to find out more information regarding the seriousness of the injury.

"He went down to hit early today and the soreness continues to persist and probably gain in intensity," manager John Farrell said.

Farrell said the injury first occurred when he was turning a double play in the home series against the Milwaukee Brewers last week. Since that series ended, Pedroia is 3-for-27 (.111) with five strikeouts and no walks.

"I think there's probably a direct correlation to what we've seen at the plate," Farrell said. "There hasn't been an event over the past couple of days that have brought this onset even further, it's just everyday play. The soreness increases and it has to be checked out. Until we have some sort of results off of imaging of any kind, that's the best I can tell you right now."

Pedroia had been moved to the leadoff spot Saturday and went 1-for-5. He became the fourth leadoff hitter the Red Sox have used this season.

Without Pedroia, Grady Sizemore took over atop the batting order for Sunday's game. Sizemore has a .394 on-base percentage so far this season and could fit well there until Pedroia returns.

Xander Bogaerts, who is hitting .286 with a .388 OBP, was moved to second for the first time this season.

"Just to get us a little bit of right-left balance throughout," said Farrell, who continues to shuffle the order until he finds one that clicks. "Xander's had very good at-bats in every game he's played. At the minor league level he's been a top-of-the-order type of hitter. So that's where we are today.