Red Sox's Fears Confirmed As Alex Bregman Heads For MRI; IL Stint Likely

The Boston Red Sox blew out the Baltimore Orioles 19-5 on Friday, but in many ways, it felt like a loss.

In the fifth inning, Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman, who was having a fantastic start to the season, came up lame when rounding first base on a line drive he hit over the left fielder's head. He immediately motioned to the dugout that he needed to come out of the game.

It's a right quad injury for Bregman, and while the two-time All-Star said Friday that the pain wasn't bad, things trended in the wrong direction when he woke up this morning.

On Saturday, manager Alex Cora said that Bregman is headed for an MRI after he woke up feeling "worse" than initially thought, which had to be Boston's worst fear when they left the ballpark on Friday.

“He’s sore,” Cora said before the doubleheader on Saturday, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “So we’ll see where we’re at. We’ll get the results whenever.”

“I saw him this morning. He’s like, ‘Eh, it’s worse than I thought,’” Cora said. “So let’s see what the MRI shows and we’ll go from there.”

Then, Cora was asked if things were headed in the direction of a stint on the injury list, and he replied, “I don’t want to jump into conclusions but yes.”

Meanwhile, Cora said that Rafael Devers, who moved to designated hitter to accommodate Bregman and was the team's starting third baseman from 2017 to 2024, is not a candidate to take over during a potential IL stint.

Finally, Cora was asked if Red Sox number-two prospect Marcelo Mayer, who has been playing a lot of second base in the minor leagues lately, is a candidate for his first big-league call-up to play third base instead.

“There’s a lot of guys in the conversation,” Cora said. “Roster construction comes into play. Guys in the minor leagues, how they fit the roster and all that stuff. So there’s a lot of conversations.”

Bregman was pretty much the last person the Red Sox could afford to lose to injury, but their only hope now is that it's a speedy recovery. Unfortunately, an IL stint could jeopardize his spot at the All-Star Game, where he looked like a lock to earn the starting third base job.

And Mayer is the only player who could be called up that would excite the fan base, regardless of whether or not the front office believes it's the right move.