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ST. PETERSBURG — The Red Sox got a boost of good news before the American League Division Series even started on Thursday, when they placed ailing slugger J.D. Martinez on the roster for the best-of-five series against the Rays.
Martinez sprained his left ankle in the final game of the regular season on Sunday, when he tripped over second base while running out to play right field at Nationals Park.
He was left off the roster for the AL Wild Card Game, in which the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 6-2, on Tuesday.
However, Martinez was not in the Game 1 starting lineup against Rays lefty Shane McClanahan at Tropicana Field, but manager Alex Cora said he will be available to pinch-hit.
It’s possible Martinez will be back in the lineup for Friday’s Game 2, which is at 7 p.m. ET.
“There’s a good chance that [Friday], that might be the day. I feel better [about that] today than yesterday,” Cora said.
Clearly, Martinez has made a lot of progress within the past 24 hours.
“He’s feeling a lot better. He’s moving better,” Cora said. “I’m not saying he’s going to be flying around the bases, but we’ll go station by station, and hopefully, he can hit one in the air, hit one out of the ballpark and he can jog around the bases. It’s getting better. The medical staff, the last three days, even on the plane, they’ve done an amazing job. He’s in a much better spot than Monday.”
In 148 games this season, the 34-year-old Martinez slashed .286/.349/.518 with 28 homers and 99 RBIs.
With Martinez out of the lineup, Cora went with his best defensive alignment — the one he used in the AL Wild Card Game.
Though Alex Verdugo has struggled against lefties this season (.554 OPS), he got the nod in left field over Danny Santana, who was added to the roster after being reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list.