The Worcester Red Sox are placing Darwinzon Hernandez on the seven-day injured list with a right knee strain, according to Joe McDonald of The Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Per McDonald, Hernandez tweaked his right knee while throwing a bullpen session at Polar Park on Sunday. It is currently unclear how much time the left-hander will miss.
In eight appearances (seven starts) for the WooSox this season, Hernandez has posted a 5.95 ERA and 4.42 FIP to go along with 30 strikeouts to 16 walks over 19 2/3 innings of work.
Last time out against the Rochester Red Wings on May 13, the 25-year-old southpaw impressed by allowing just one unearned run on three hits, one walk, and three strikeouts across three innings pitched. He retired nine of the 13 batters he faced and 33 of the 43 pitches he threw went for strikes.
The Red Sox surprisingly optioned Hernandez to Triple-A Worcester at the end of spring training so that he could improve his mechanics while working on a starter’s schedule (i.e. every five or six days). The goal was for him to make his start, then use the days in between outings to work with WooSox pitching coach Paul Abbott in order to become more consistent with his delivery and such.
Now that Hernandez has been sidelined because of a knee strain, the Sox have lost yet another left-handed pitcher to injury for the time being. Of the nine lefties on Boston’s 40-man roster, three (James Paxton, Chris Sale, and Josh Taylor) on the 60-day injured list and one (Hernandez) is on the minor-league injured list.
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