Wilyer Abreu was removed from Sunday’s game after pulling up with a tight calf while scoring on a sacrifice fly, and after the game the Red Sox expressed hope the outfielder could avoid a stint on the injured list.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Monday that Abreu is feeling better, but that he’s still not out of the woods.
“Willy’s sore, tight, we’ll take it day by day, a lot of improvement from last night, so we feel positive on that one,” Cora said. “We’ll see what happens, it doesn’t mean it won’t go on the IL, but we’ll be patient and see how it goes.”
Abreu was not in the lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles, and the Red Sox will also be down another outfielder for at least the next week after Rob Refsnyder was placed on the 10-day IL with left oblique strain.
Cora said that injury also cropped up over the weekend.
“It was more than one day, it’s been going on for the last few days so it made sense,” Cora said. “He started feeling it during (batting practice) a few days ago, yesterday he felt it more, so it just made sense.”
To fill Refsnyder’s typical role as the lefty-killing outfielder off the bench, the Red Sox called up Nate Eaton from Triple-A, who led off Monday against Orioles left-hander Trevor Rogers. Cora also clarified the roles for Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro following the addition of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, saying Gonzalez will primarily play second against lefties and Toro will play first against certain lefties.
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