Red Sox starting pitcher James Paxton left his first start of the spring on Friday in Fort Myers, Florida after recording two outs in the second inning with a hamstring injury. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
Red Sox left-hander James Paxton has a grade 1 strain of his right hamstring and seems unlikely to be on the Opening Day roster for Boston. Paxton left his outing on Friday after 1 2/3 innings after feeling discomfort in his leg. Manager Alex Cora said Saturday it’s unclear how long Paxton will be shut down, but the injury is the least severe possible strain.
Friday’s outing was Paxton’s first in a game in nearly two years. Paxton missed nearly the entire 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery while pitching for Seattle. Paxton made one start and threw 1 1/3 innings the entire 2021 season. He signed with Boston before last season but spent the entire year on the injured list with a series of setbacks while recovering from the elbow surgery.
The 34-year-old is several years removed from the best seasons of his career. Between 2017-19, Paxton was 38-17 with a 3.54 ERA in 81 starts for Seattle and the New York Yankees.
NICK PIVETTA couldn’t make it through two innings in his first start, either, though not because of in-game injury.
After allowing two runs in the first on Saturday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins, Pivetta gave up three straight singles to load the bases in the second. A pitch clock violation resulted in a balk call, which forced in a run. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.
The 30-year-old then issued a walk to reload the diamond, at which point, Cora pulled him and sent Jake Faria to clean up the mess, which he did.
Struggle to limit base-runners and runs aside, it was mostly an issue of pitch count. NESN clocked him at 44 pitches, the press box had 43.
Pivetta recently had Covid for the third time. When he didn’t bounce back the way he’d hoped, the Red Sox slowed down his throwing program. He also decided not to join Team Canada for this month’s World Baseball Classic.
DIAMONDBACKS: Manager Torey Lovullo said Ronnie Gajownik was going to be his bench coach for Saturday’s game against the San Diego Padres as she prepares for her first managing job.
The 29-year-old Gajownik was hired during the offseason as manager of the D-backs’ minor league affiliate Hillsboro Hops. She’ll be the first woman to manage a minor league Class High-A team.
“I told her we’re just going to sit down, talk baseball for nine innings and let’s have some fun with it,” Lovullo said. “I said, ‘You think I’m going to be teaching you things, but you’re going to be teaching me things as well.’ I’m just appreciating my time with her. She’s a spectacular teacher and can relate with the players very well.”
Rachel Balkovec became the first woman to manage a professional baseball team last year when she led the New York Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons.
Gajownik was a two-year starter on South Florida’s softball team and also won a gold medal with the United States in the 2015 Pan American Games.
BLUE JAYS: Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has withdrawn from playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic due to inflammation in his right knee.
Toronto Manager John Schneider said that an MRI showed no structural damage in Guerrero’s right knee. Guerrero left the Blue Jays’ spring training game on Friday with discomfort in the knee after taking some awkward steps into second base following a hit.
The Blue Jays later announced that Guerrero was withdrawing from the WBC. He was scheduled to leave the Blue Jays to join the Dominican Republic team on Sunday.
The 23-year-old was expected to be part of a stacked lineup for the Dominican Republic. Guerrero played 160 games last season and hit .274 with 32 homers and 97 RBI for the Blue Jays.
Guerrero is the third Blue Jays player to withdraw from the WBC joining catcher Alejandro Kirk (Mexico) and relief pitcher Jordan Romano (Italy).
RANGERS: Left-handed reliever Will Smith agreed to a $1.5 million, one-year contract with the Texas Rangers and will report to spring training.
The 33-year-old was 0-3 with a 3.97 ERA and five saves in 65 relief appearances last year for Atlanta and Houston, which acquired him on Aug. 2 for current Ranger Jake Odorizzi. The Astros declined a $13 million option on Nov. 9, allowing Smith to become a free agent as he completed a $40 million, three-year contract.
He was an All-Star with San Francisco in 2019, the final season with the Giants for current Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. Smith had a career-high 37 saves for Atlanta in 2021.
He has a 31-34 career record with 91 saves in 513 appearances over 10 seasons for Kansas City (2012-13), Milwaukee (2014-16), San Francisco (2016, 2018-19), Atlanta (2020-22), and Houston (2022).
Infielder Mark Mathias was designated for assignment to open a roster spot. He was 3 for 10 with three RBIs and three walks in five spring training games.
ATHLETICS: The Oakland Athletics are calling Las Vegas home … for this weekend.
The A’s sent a split-squad of players to Las Vegas for two games against Cincinnati as part of “Big League Weekend.” The games are being played at Las Vegas Ballpark, the home of Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate, the Aviators.
The two-day visit to Sin City comes with the continued conversation that Las Vegas could become a permanent home for the A’s in the future if the lengthy, ongoing search for a stadium solution in the Bay Area doesn’t materialize soon.
The A’s lease at RingCentral Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, and though they might be forced to extend the terms, the club and Major League Baseball have deemed the stadium unsuitable for a professional franchise.
The A’s have spent years trying to develop a stadium solution in the Bay Area, but missed a major deadline last October for getting a deal done in Oakland for a new stadium development. That has raised the specter of Las Vegas becoming the future home of the A’s, but there are concerns with the amount of funding the baseball team could receive for a new stadium in Nevada.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said last month that while the door isn’t being closed on Oakland, most of the focus of late by A’s owner John Fischer has been on possible solutions in Las Vegas.
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