Red Sox promote Marcelo Mayer, Alex Bregman heads to the IL, Boston wins Game 1 in extra innings

The Red Sox will promote their top infield prospect, Marcelo Mayer, ahead of the second game of the doubleheader with the Orioles on Saturday.

Mayer, who is ranked as Baseball America’s No. 8 prospect on its Top 100 list, ranks behind No. 2 prospect Roman Anthony. The WooSox had kept Mayer out of the lineup for their first game of their doubleheader at Polar Park as a “precautionary” move.

His addition to the Red Sox' 26-man roster comes a few hours after Alex Cora said that third baseman Alex Bregman’s right quad injury was worse than originally thought.

While with the WooSox this season, the 22-year-old batter .271, with nine homers, five doubles, one triple, 43 RBI, 31 runs, and a .818 OPS in 43 games.

Cora was asked on Saturday afternoon if Bregman was headed to the injured list, but the skipper said he didn’t “want to jump to conclusions, but yes.”

Bregman underwent an MRI before the start of the first game on Saturday and told reporters that he felt worse today when he arrived at the clubhouse in the morning. After the game, Cora informed reporters that Bregman's injury was significant and he anticipates a lengthy absence.

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

The Sox losing Bregman is a big blow to their lineup. Entering Saturday’s games, the third baseman was leading the American League with a .553 slugging percentage, a .385 on-base percentage, 35 RBI and 17 doubles. His 11 home runs tied him for first place among AL third basemen, while his.299 average placed him third.

Bregman suffered the injury on Friday afternoon when he turned, rounding first on a single to left field. He immediately felt the injury and signaled to the dugout to come out of the game.

“We’ll be OK. Obviously, it’s a big part of our offense,” Cora said. “We just got to find ways to score runs in a different way. And we’re prepared for that. Obviously, a different look in the lineup today because of [Bregman’s] knee. We’ll probably mix and match a little more, be more aggressive in certain areas, pinch-hit and all that, but we got to get to work. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. That’s the nature of the business.”

RED SOX TAKE GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER

Rafael Devers remains red hot at the plate, collecting the walk-off single up the middle in the 10th inning off southpaw Gregory Soto, driving in Ceddanne Rafaela, and giving the Sox a 6-5 win over the Orioles.

Devers has reached base in 25 of his last 26 games beginning on April 26. He’s slashing .410/.508/.790/1.298 over that span with 10 homers, eight doubles, and 34 RBI. 

Hunter Dobbins started the game but struggled, lasting only four innings while allowing four runs on five hits, walking one batter, and striking out seven. A Sox’ starter has now pitched fewer than five innings six times in the past seven games.

Baltimore scored twice in the first inning before Jarren Duran led off the home half of the frame, crushing a 393-foot solo homer to right field in the pouring rain. Wilyer Abreu tied the game with a solo blast of his own, a 399-foot homer into the right field seats.

Baltimore added three runs in the fifth, but Abraham Toro hit a solo homer, cutting the Orioles' lead to 5-3 in the bottom half of the inning. The Red Sox tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth in part due to some inadequate Orioles defense after Devers hit a ground-rule double and Abreu walked to begin the frame.

Carlos Narváez, who was moved up to the cleanup spot in the batting order, hit a ground ball to shortstop, and Gunnar Henderson’s throw to second base went wildly into the outfield, scoring Devers. Abreu scored on Nick Sogard’s RBI groundout.

Right-handed reliever Greg Weissert came up big in extra innings out of the bullpen. He stranded the automatic extra-innings runner at second base. Weissert struck out Gunnar Henderson swinging to begin the inning. He got Ramón Urías to line out to right field, and following an intentional walk, the righty struck out Jorge Mateo swinging.

The Red Sox and Orioles are scheduled to play Game 2 at 6:35 p.m. Lucas Giolito (1-1, 7.08 ERA) is scheduled to start for Boston. The Orioles will have lefty Trevor Rogers pitch in Game 2 as their starter.