The Red Sox have placed Andrew Benintendi on the 15-day disabled list after his ugly Wednesday night injury against the Rays.
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Benintendi exited Wednesday’s game against the Rays with a sprained left knee, and it was initially believed he may have also sustained an ankle injury.
The Sox righty nearly got out of another inning allowing multiple baserunners, but the Rays cut into his lead on a two-out, two-run double by their own cleanup hitter.
“There are times you look back, today being one of them, that you could have capitalized on situations and had a different outcome”, Boston manager John Farrell said.
Boston starter Rick Porcello was five outs from being the majors’ first 18-game victor before Longoria took him deep. Xander Bogaerts grounded out to end the inning, with Benintendi being replaced in left field by Chris Young to start the bottom of the frame. He tried to avoid a tag while running toward second base, but was tagged out on a double play.
Be it for two weeks or a year, the Red Sox are much worse off without their rookie.
Pomeranz tossed six innings allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out 11.
Benintendi was Boston’s first-round pick, seventh overall, in the 2015 draft and was making quite an impression in his first big league action with a.324/.365/.485 slashline, an.850 OPS with six doubles, one triple, one home run, 10 RBI, and 11 runs scored in 21 games (19 starts). Longoria became the first Rays player to hit 30 home runs in four seasons.
Odorizzi has pitched well against Boston at Tropicana Field, with a 0.92 career ERA there in 19 2/3 innings.
Andriese struck out eight in six innings, giving up three runs on six hits. Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (hamstring) threw a bullpen session Thursday and is expected to start Sunday against the Royals. “So we’ll just see what the results say and move on from there.” .
Benintendi, 22, has made a splash in his first month in the majors since being recalled August 2, only 14 months after he was drafted.
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Tampa Bay (54-72) won the final two games to earn a split of the four-game series.Rays starter Jake Odorizzi improved to 9-5 and 6-0 since the All-Star break with another strong outing.
