The Sox lost Marcelo Mayer on Friday, placing the shortstop on the 10-day injured list after a CT scan showed a stress reaction in the ulna of his left forearm. The move came before a 6-1 win over the Yankees at Fenway Park and left Boston scrambling again at a position already thinned by injury.
Mayer had been the everyday shortstop since Trevor Story landed on the injured list last month, but his own arm had been bothering him for much of the season. He said the pain had been on and off for nearly two months, sometimes showing up when he fielded and more consistently when he swung. Even pregame swings were occasionally limited by discomfort.
That made Friday less a sudden break than the point where Boston finally stopped pushing it. Mayer said doctors told him to shut it down because it could get worse if he kept playing, and he agreed. He also said he was not going to use the forearm as an excuse for his play, even though he was hitting.220/.282/.312 with three home runs and knew the results had not matched his own expectations.
“Obviously, I’m not happy with the way I’ve been playing,” Mayer said, adding that he wanted to be on the field more than anybody and would still be playing if the decision were his alone. That blunt assessment is what makes the injury matter beyond one roster move: the Sox have now lost another option in the middle infield, and they must keep moving while one of their most promising young players tries to get his arm right.
There is no timetable for Mayer’s return. He said he will be evaluated week to week by the medical staff, which leaves Boston with a short-term split at shortstop against different pitching looks. Tsung-Che Cheng was called up from Triple-A Worcester and immediately slid into the nine-hole against right-handers, while Andruw Monasterio is set to handle lefties.
The shift comes at a time when the infield has already been stretched hard. Trevor Story, Mayer and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were all sidelined, and Kiner-Falefa also underwent a CT scan on Friday that showed a stress reaction in his left forearm. Chad Tracy said the club has “taken some hits,” and added that the only way through it is for the next player to step in and help win a game. For Boston, the next few days are about managing that damage without letting it spread any farther.
Cheng offered an immediate example of what that means. He doubled in the fourth inning for his first major league hit and later picked up his first RBI on a second-inning groundout, a small but timely return for a team that has had to keep patching the infield as the season goes on. The Sox have won before with less talent in the lineup; what they do not have now is much margin for another setback.
