The clock is ticking on the regular season, but the Boston Red Sox are remaining patient with Wilyer Abreu.
Manager Alex Cora provided an update on Abreu prior to Wednesday night’s game against the A’s at Fenway Park, indicating that the right fielder won’t be activated before the series finale on Thursday afternoon.
“He’s gonna run. He’s not gonna run the bases; he’s gonna sprint. Do the other stuff,” Cora said. “Baseball-wise, doesn’t look like it will be [Thursday]. So we just have to be patient.”
Abreu hasn’t played since Aug. 17 due to a calf strain. Cora’s previous update came a day earlier, with the manager saying that Abreu was sore on Monday after running on Sunday. With Abreu set to miss more than a month, Cora was asked if Abreu is taking longer than expected to get back to the field.
“Not really,” he answered. “I mean the way he’s felt throughout, Sunday was a heavy day for him, running-wise. Monday, like I said, he wasn’t tight, but he was sore. And he’s still a little bit sore. We have to be careful. We don’t want any setbacks, right? So when he goes, he’s a full go.”
The 26-year-old Abreu slashed .253/.325/.486 in 108 games this season, with 22 home runs, 16 doubles and 69 RBIs.
After Boston’s series against the A’s concludes on Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox will hit the road for six games, first stopping in Tampa and then going to Toronto. They’ll conclude their regular season with a three-game set against Detroit from Sept. 26-28.
Abreu’s absence was compounded, of course, when rookie sensation Roman Anthony suffered an oblique strain on Sept. 2. That injury came with a projected recovery timeline of four to six weeks, and Cora’s “update” on Anthony indicated that the rookie is a long way away from returning to the field.
“He said yesterday,” Cora said of Anthony, “I had to laugh, he’s like, ‘It was a very intense 25-minute walk on the treadmill.’ Whatever that means. He’s feeling better but that’s all he’s doing.”
Red Sox Pitching News
Wednesday also delivered some news on the pitching front.
First, Cora announced that Kyle Harrison will start Saturday’s game in Tampa. The 24-year-old lefty, who was acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, made his Red Sox debut last week in West Sacramento against the A’s, pitching three shutout innings while allowing three hits and striking out two (with a hit by pitch as well) in what was eventually a Red Sox loss.
Cora also announced that rookie Payton Tolle will be moving to the bullpen. After pitching 5.1 innings in his MLB debut at the end of August, Tolle lasted just three innings in his second start and was intentionally used for just two innings last week in a start against the A’s. He has a 7.84 ERA and 1.645 WHIP in 10.1 innings pitched.
And Wednesday night’s starter, Lucas Giolito, made it through the fourth inning, which turned the $14 million club option for 2026 into a $19 million mutual option for next season. Giolito, 31, will almost assuredly opt for free agency, where he’ll have a market for a multi-year deal. The veteran right-hander is 10-4 with a 3.46 ERA in 25 starts this season.
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