Red Sox’s Wilyer Abreu Exits Game Early With Calf Injury

A promising Sunday afternoon didn’t end according to plan for Wilyer Abreu and the Boston Red Sox.

Abreu gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead over the Miami Marlins when a line drive fell out of right fielder Dane Myers’ glove and over the fence for an unusual home run. The outfielder also scored a key insurance run in the seventh, but he didn’t finish a game that got away from Boston.

Boston removed Abreu after he appeared to limp home on an Abraham Toro sacrifice fly. The Red Sox revealed, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith and multiple reports, that they pulled him because of right calf tightness.

Alex Bregman entered the game at third base, with Toro moving to first base and Romy González sliding from first to second. Ceddanne Rafaela shifted from second base to center field, bumping Jarren Duran to left field and Roman Anthony to right field.

Abreu missed an ugly ending at Fenway Park.

The Marlins tacked on a run in the eighth inning, narrowing the deficit to 3-2. Alex Cora turned to Greg Weissert in the ninth with All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman unavailable, but Myers redeemed himself with a game-tying home run. Jakob Marsee came off the bench to hit a two-run blast off deadline acquisition Steven Matz, giving the Marlins a 5-3 comeback win.

Despite a recent power funk, Abreu is batting .253/.325/.486 with a career-high 22 home runs in his third season. The 26-year-old lost some playing time to left-handed pitchers earlier this year, but he’s stuck in the lineup and offered a passable .721 OPS against southpaws.

Abreu said after the game that he doesn’t expect to go on the injured list. He’ll see how he feels on Monday before determining if it’s more than a day-to-day issue, but he hopes to be ready for a four-game road series against the New York Yankees starting on Thursday.

An extended absence would force Cora to maneuver his lineup card once more. That could mean Rafaela returning to center field regularly, but the Red Sox lost a potential replacement at second base when announcing before Sunday’s game that Marcelo Mayer will undergo season-ending wrist surgery.

Abreu’s post-game comments indicate that he’ll likely miss Boston’s next two games against the Baltimore Orioles.