Red Sox notes: Pomeranz diagnosed with mild flexor strain, but club not concerned

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Drew Pomeranz, who cut short his first start of the spring Friday when he experienced some discomfort in his left forearm, was diagnosed with a mild flexor strain Saturday and will be shut down for a few days as a precaution.

Pomeranz visited with a local orthopedist and underwent an MRI Saturday, which showed no structural damage to the arm or elbow.

"Tuesday, he's going to be re-evaluated and we'll go from there,'' said manager Alex Cora. "But at this time, we feel pretty confident he's going to be fine.''

Pomeranz had a similar issue last spring and missed the first 10 days of the season as a precaution. He later came out of a regular season game with the same issue but made his next scheduled start.

"It's kind of what I expected,'' said Pomeranz of the diagnosis. "Nothing too serious -- just a little soreness. I don't see myself missing too much time. It's pretty similar (to what I went through last year); it's more precautionary than anything else. It's spring training, and when you feel something, why push it now? What's the point? Especially because it's early and we have plenty of time to take care of the things we need to take care of.''

Pomeranz said he could have continued to pitch Friday, but saw no reason to do so, especially in spring training.

"I've dealt with minor stuff like this before,'' he said. "Like I said, I don't see this being too big of an issue.''

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Three Things to Know from the Red Sox' 5-3 loss to the Yankees

The new pace-of-play initiatives didn't help: Before the game, Cora revealed he and Aaron Boone vowed to make an effort to speed up games between the rivals. But it didn't work in the first meeting, and the limited number of mound visits -- newly instituted this spring -- have yet to move the game along.

Saturday's game lasted an interminable 3:46. Some of that can be attributed to a number of late-inning pitching changes and lineup adjustments.

But the game lacked any crispness, especially after the first few innings.

Brian Johnson looked good, but not as good as the jetBlue Park radar gun indicated: Johnson, who is bidding for the temporary fifth spot on the roster, pitched two scoreless innings against the Yanks and has yet to allow a run over four Grapefruit League innings.

"He has a pretty good idea how to pitch,'' said Cora. "Good fastball, good breaking ball. He uses the fastball up and the breaking ball down. He's in control out there and he fields his position well. That's what you ask from your guys. It was a good day for him.''

In one sequence, the radar gun posted Johnson at 96 mph, but that apparently was a poor reading. Johnson typically throws his fastball at 88-89 mph, occasionally hitting 90-91 mph.

Told that the gun had him at 96 mph for one pitch, Johnson's face revealed some surprise -- bordering on shock.

"I don't know,'' said Johnson. "I don't know. I guess one thing I've noticed is, I threw a bullpen recently and (Craig) Kimbrel said, 'Hey, the ball's coming out of your hand pretty well.' And I've been working with our trainer on my arm angle that I had when I first signed.''

Steven Wright's interview with MLB has been completed: According to a source, Wright underwent his interview with MLB investigators this past week, concerning his December arrest for domestic assault. The charge was later dismissed, but the commissioner's office has made it a practice to investigate all domestic assault charges, regardless of whether criminal charges were filed.

Opening Day is less than four weeks away, and the Sox and Wright will likely hear in the next week or so whether Wright has been given any disciplinary action for the start of the regular season.

Wright is recovering from knee surgery, and likely won't be physically ready for the start of the season, so some sort of delay to the start of the year is virtually guaranteed either way.