Despite leaving Tuesday night’s 6-0 win after the top of the second inning, it appears Red Sox infielder Romy Gonzalez is going to be just fine.
Manager Alex Cora told the media postgame that the 29-year-old is “day-to-day” with a sore left knee, adding, “He’ll be OK.”
After leading off the game with a solo home run, Gonzalez followed that up with an RBI double in his next at bat, putting an exclamation mark on his league-leading 12-game hit streak.
But after an awkward slide into second base, Gonzalez walked gingerly towards the dugout once the half inning was over.
And postgame, he told the media that once he got out to first base for the bottom half of the second, he knew something felt funny.
Boston (81-65) decided to take no chances with the man that hits left handed pitching better than almost anyone in baseball, and opted to send Nathaniel Lowe out to first for the remainder of the game.
Ahead of the third, Gonzalez was seen limping to the outfield clubhouse at Sutter Health Park.
Anytime someone leaves a game, it’s cause for concern. But according to Cora and Gonzalez, this was more precautionary than anything.
“A lot better, night and day,” Gonzalez said postgame when asked how he was feeling. “Left knee kind of just locked up on me when I was going out there to play defense.
“Nothing too serious. You know, trainers said structurally, everything's good. And you know, hoping to be ready to go by Friday.”
While it looked like Gonzalez’s injury stemmed from his dive into second, he said postgame that’s not the case.
“No, just randomly locked up on me,” Gonzalez said dismissively.
Regardless of the cause, this will be something to monitor closely down the stretch.
We’ll see if he’s back in the lineup for Friday against the Yankees at Fenway.
Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.