The Red Sox optioned MIchael Chavis to Worcester on Monday and are expected to activate Christian Arroyo on Tuesday. Mike Carlson/Associated Press
The Boston Red Sox optioned Michael Chavis to Triple-A Worcester and are expected to activate Christian Arroyo from the 10-day injured list before Tuesday’s game.
Chavis appeared in 11 games for Boston, batting .273 (9 for 33) with a .273 on-base percentage, .485 slugging percentage, .758 OPS, one homer, four doubles, seven runs and two RBI.
He has struck out 13 times and hasn’t drawn any walks.
Chavis made five starts at second base and two starts at first base. He led off four times.
Arroyo (left hand contusion) spent the weekend on a rehab assignment in Worcester. In three games, he went 1 for 10 with a double, a run scored, two RBI, one walk and four strikeouts.
He has slashed .275/.333/.377/.710 with seven doubles, nine runs, five RBI, three walks and 18 strikeouts for Boston this year.
The Red Sox are off on Monday. They begin a two-game series at home against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. The Miami Marlins will be at Fenway Park on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ’S struggles continued Sunday afternoon against the Phillies, but Red Sox Manager Alex Cora saw some signs of life late in the lefty’s outing that bode well for future starts.
Rodriguez took the loss as the Sox fell, 6-2, allowing four first-inning runs — including three on a Brad Miller home run with two outs. Though Philadelphia did not do any damage against Rodriguez after the first, the lefty needed 103 pitches to get 12 outs; he did not record an out in the fifth.
After a rough first, Rodriguez settled down to retire nine of 12 batters in the next three innings, striking out five in that span. Cora thought the end of the outing was encouraging.
“It seems like he found his rhythm in the third and fourth inning,” Cora said. “Mechanically, he felt a lot better. He started mixing up his pitches better.
“What I saw in the third or fourth inning, that was a lot better than the four starts combined,” Cora added. “There was good rhythm, good arm action and good pitches. I’ll take that. Obviously, we don’t like the results, but I like the fact that those two innings, he was very aggressive and very sharp.”
In five May starts, Rodriguez owns a 6.48 ERA (18 earned runs in 25 innings) and the Sox are 1-4. He leads all Red Sox starters with a 5.06 ERA this season and has struggled with command on a consistent basis. Rodriguez’s cutter has not been as sharp as usual, Cora believes, leading to his entire attack plan getting out of whack.
“Overall, I feel like I was a little out of control with most of my pitches,” Rodriguez said. “That’s something I have a couple days to work on, we have a couple days off, so just working on it and get back to the next game.”
Rodriguez was the victim of some bad luck in the first inning, as he hit a batter and then allowed a stolen base before Rhys Hoskins beat the shift with a ground ball through the right side. Two batters later, Miller barely cleared the left field fence with a homer that broke things open early.
For Rodriguez, the work will continue before his next scheduled start Monday in Houston.
“The last couple starts, I’ve just been going out there and grinding,” he said.
Xander Bogaerts was out of the lineup Sunday because Cora wanted to get him two days of rest in a row with Monday’s off day approaching. Part of Cora’s reasoning was that he feels Bogaerts is — in his words — the “most physical” shortstop in the majors.
“I don’t think there’s a stronger shortstop in the big leagues,” Cora said. “You see the other guys… (Fernando) Tatis (Jr.), yeah, he’s physical but he’s lean. He looks smaller. This guy is a strong shortstop. We talk about Alex (Rodriguez )and (Cal) Ripken — these guys. Those types of guys. He can play the position. We know that. But it gets to the point in certain times that you can see (it). He’s getting on base at a high rate, too, so we have to take care of that, too.”
Bogaerts started 45 of Boston’s first 48 games, including 29 in a row. He’ll be back in the lineup when the Sox welcome the Braves to Fenway Park on Tuesday night.
“It’s hard to do what he’s doing,” Cora said. “You start looking ahead and what’s coming is long games for a long period of time. We’ll take advantage of today and tomorrow.
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