MLB teams
Scott Lauber, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Red Sox's Steven Wright calls shoulder injury 'a freak thing'

MLB, Boston Red Sox

BOSTON -- There is something wrong with Steven Wright.

Wright will miss at least one start, the Boston Red Sox announced Wednesday, after an MRI exam revealed inflammation in his right shoulder. Wright was injured Sunday night in Los Angeles when he pinch-ran for David Ortiz and jammed his shoulder while diving back to second base on a fake pickoff attempt.

"It's one of those things that, at first, I was thinking the worst," Wright said. "I'm thinking [torn] labrum because of the way that I fell. But I'm just glad that it's not."

Wright was supposed to start Thursday night against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, but he cut short his between-starts bullpen session Tuesday "because it hurt every time I tried to throw," he said. Wright went for an MRI, which didn't reveal structural damage to the labrum or the rotator cuff.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said Wright is not yet a candidate to be placed on the 15-day disabled list. The team's medical staff believes the inflammation will subside without him having to miss significant time, although Wright said he "will know more in the next couple days," once he sees how his shoulder responds to treatment.

In Wright's place, left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will move up one day to face the Yankees, and ace lefty David Price will start Friday night in the opener of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Right-hander Clay Buchholz will be inserted into the rotation to start Saturday night.

Farrell, whose every move has been second-guessed throughout the season, figures to receive criticism for using Wright in a pinch-running role.

The Red Sox didn't want Ortiz to run the bases after leaving Saturday's game with soreness in his balky feet and heels. When Ortiz drew a pinch-hit walk in the sixth inning, Farrell had only backup catcher Sandy Leon and first baseman Hanley Ramirez available off the bench after burning Bryce Brentz in the same inning, and he wanted to save Ramirez for a pinch-hitting opportunity late in the game. Rick Porcello, the starting pitcher most likely to be used to run, had flown home from Los Angeles ahead of the team.

Wright guessed that he hadn't been used as a pinch runner in a game since 2003 or 2004 in college, but he said that Farrell alerted all the pitchers about the possibility that they would be needed to run or hit in an interleague game in a National League ballpark. Asked if he felt uneasy about calling upon Wright to pinch run, Farrell said, "I think you always are."

"The fact that we're in a National League game, you're looking to do what's right by the game situation," Farrell said. "Honestly, the way [Wright] swung the bat the night before was more of an indication to me of, here's a guy that's a baseball player."

Farrell noted that Wright had "kind of a lengthy lead." Wright said he was realistic enough to know he probably wouldn't score from second base on a single but wanted to be sure he would make it home safely on a double. If anything, Wright was surprised that Dodgers reliever Joe Blanton thought to fake a pickoff throw.

"My initial reaction was, 'Don't get picked off.' That's the last thing I want to do," Wright said. "I was just thinking if I could just fall down and touch the bag I would do it, and that's kind of what I did. I just turned and fell. I just panicked and jumped back to the bag and just happened to land on my arm the wrong way."

Wright has been among the Red Sox's most consistent starters, posting a 13-5 record and 3.01 ERA. He also is coming off his best start of the season, a three-hit shutout of the Dodgers on Friday night.

"Hopefully it's only one start, and I can make my next start," Wright said. "Hopefully it's just a little hiccup, and we can just move along. They said I just jammed it really bad. It's a freak accident. It's one of those things that you never think about. It's a freak thing."

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