The Boston Red Sox suffered a major blow during Sunday’s 13-2 final loss to the New York Yankees when lefty Chris Sale was forced to leave the opener with a broken finger. Sale suffered the injury in the bottom of the first when Aaron Hicks hit him on the arm. The Red Sox later announced that the injury was a fractured left fifth finger or little finger.
As you can see, Sale immediately left the field and his left little finger appeared to be deformed. Sale told reporters after the game, including the Boston Globe, that he thought he would miss 4-6 weeks. He will see a hand specialist later Sunday or Monday to determine a more accurate timeline for his recovery.
“I knew right away,” Sale told the Boston Globe. “The feeling of cold water running through your body when something like that happens.”
This was just Sale’s second start of the 2022 season. He returned from a stress fracture to his ribs, which he suffered at the end of spring training on July 12. On Sunday, Sale, who was replaced by Hirokazu Sawamura after an injury, allowed three runs (two earned) in just 2/3 innings. The outcome raised Sale’s ERA after two starts to 3.18. The 33-year-old is in the third year of a five-year, $145 million contract with Boston.
The struggling Red Sox, who entered Sunday’s rubber match having lost five of their last six and nine of their last 12, have already been plagued by injury problems in the rotation. Currently, five starting pitchers — Rich Hill, Connor Seabold, Michael Wacha, Josh Winckowski and James Paxton — are in IL for Boston. Sale’s injury will likely accelerate the front office’s efforts to get rotation help by the Aug. 2 trade deadline, but ownership commitment to invest in the roster has been lacking for some time.
