Red Sox: Is Xander Bogaerts playing today?

Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts exited last night’s game early with a quad injury. Is he back in the lineup today?

Red Sox Nation held their collective breaths as they watched rising star Xander Bogaerts grimace rounding third base in the fifth inning of Wednesday night’s win against the Tampa Bay Rays. The last thing this team needs right now is for their promising young shortstop to be the latest player to hit the shelf.

Bogaerts would come out of the game for a defensive replacement in the top of the sixth inning with what the team reported as left quad tightness. That initial diagnosis brought relief to the Red Sox, who naturally feared a far more serious injury. His removal from last night’s game may only have been precautionary, but the team listed him as day-to-day, leaving his availability for Thursday’s afternoon game in doubt.

So with game time just over an hour away, what’s the status of Bogaerts? Is he back in the lineup already?

You bet he is!

The Red Sox are rolling with their regular lineup this afternoon. Bogaerts will take his regular spot at shortstop, hitting third in the batting order. Brock Holt, who moved to shortstop last night after Bogaerts exited, is back in left field.

Had Bogaerts needed at least another day off, Holt likely would have gotten the start at shortstop. That means Chris Young would have been starting against a right-handed pitcher, which is… less than ideal. While Young did collect his first hit of the season against a right-hander last night, he’s still only 1-for-9 against them this season.

The alternative would have been to keep Holt in left and use Josh Rutledge at short. The 27-year old infielder has a history at the position, but hasn’t played there since 2014. At the moment he’s the only infielder on the bench for the Red Sox, since Marco Hernandez was was optioned yesterday to help bolster an overworked bullpen.

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It seems the Red Sox may have dodged a bullet with Bogaerts, who appears to be fine. With the bench thin on appealing options at the moment, they are going to need the X-Man to stay healthy.