Red Sox place Dustin Pedroia on IL, shuffle roster

As seemed inevitable when he came out of Wednesday's game unexpectedly in the second inning, the Red Sox placed second baseman Dustin Pedroia on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation Thursday night and brought back pitcher Marcus Walden from Pawtucket to take his spot on the roster.

Pedroia, who under cartilage restoration surgery on the knee in October of 2017 and missed all but three games of 2018, came out of Wednesday's game after one bat, telling Alex Cora that he felt a strange sensation in the troubled knee during his second inning at-bat.



Pedroia then visited a specialist in New York on Thursday, after which the decision to place him on the injured list was made. The Boston Globe reported Pedroia did not suffer a major injury with the knee.

The Sox have been trying to manage Pedroia carefully since his activation before the team's home opener on April 9 providing him with regular days off in addition to utilizing him twice earlier this week as the DH, thus sparing him additional wear-and-tear on the knee.

The return of Walden, who was optioned Monday night to Pawtucket, gives the Red Sox 14 pitchers temporarily, but it seems a given that the team will make a corresponding move Friday to return the staff to 13. In all likelihood, Erasmo Ramirez, who was promoted when Walden was optioned and allowed four runs in three innings of work Tuesday, will be returned to Triple-A and replaced by infielder Tzu-Wei Lin.

Lin is considered a plus defender in the infield, though he's yet to make much of an impact with the bat in the big leagues, hitting .254 in 122 career at-bats. Currently, the only other second baseman on the major league roster is Eduardo Nunez, who has been battling a bad back.

It's likely that Lin, a lefty hitter, will platoon with Nunez until Pedroia returns.

Given the hot start at the plate experienced by Michael Chavis -- four homers in 12 games - has had at Pawtucket, there was some speculation that he might get the call to play second. But Cora told WEEI on Thursday that while Chavis had been playing some second at Triple-A, he wasn't yet comfortable at the position.

"(Chavis) needs a little more work at second base,'' Cora told the radio station. "There are a few plays he needs to get better at. We're comfortable with him making the routine plays. But there are other plays that come into play. He's a work in progress. He's getting close to what we want. You never know -- injuries come into play.''

Chavis, who was drafted as a shortstop and later moved to third base, and has also played some first base. He's made five starts at second base for Pawtucket this season.