BOSTON — In the hours before Thursday’s matinee at Fenway Park, the home clubhouse looked like Grand Central Station.
The Boston Red Sox dramatically altered their roster, making six moves that were necessitated either by injuries or underperformance. A recap:
–Second baseman Dustin Pedroia was placed on the 15-day disabled list after being diagnosed with a strained right hamstring. The Sox purchased the contract of Triple-A shortstop Deven Marrero, who will be used as a utility infielder while utility man Brock Holt gets most of the starts at second base.
–With left fielder Hanley Ramirez nursing a bruised left hand, the Sox recalled outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. from Triple-A Pawtucket and designated emergency catcher Erik Kratz for assignment.
–Right-hander Joe Kelly was optioned to Triple-A after posting a 5.67 ERA in 14 starts. The Sox purchased the contract of reliever Jonathan Aro from Triple-A and moved right-hander Justin Masterson into the rotation to take Kelly’s place.
Got all that?
The biggest loss, of course, figures to be Pedroia, described by manager John Farrell as the Red Sox’s “heart and soul.” Pedroia was injured when he slipped while rounding first base in the sixth inning Wednesday night.
“I’ve never pulled a muscle before,” Pedroia said. “It’s just weird. Right before I hit the bag, my foot kind of slipped out and I hit the bag with my left foot, so I tried to just recover and stop, so I slipped basically. It’s a thing you can’t prevent, man. That’s the part that frustrates me mentally. You work hard in the weight room and in the offseason trying to do things to prevent injury, and little things happen. It’s tough. We’ll get through it. Guys will come together and hold it down until I get back, and then we’ll go.”
Pedroia is batting .306 with nine homers and an .819 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He was particularly hot lately, going 28-for-80 (.350) with a .902 OPS in June.