Red Sox rotation in shambles as David Price lands on injured list

The Boston Red Sox have placed David Price on the 10-day injured list with a wrist injury, depleting a struggling starting rotation even further.

The outlook has gone from bad to worse for the Boston Red Sox rotation. The staff has underachieved all season and now they’ve lost one of their co-aces.

David Price has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist injury. According to NESN,  Price underwent an MRI on his left wrist that revealed a TFCC cyst that was treated with a cortisone shot.

Right-handed pitcher Hector Velazquez has been called up from Triple-A Pawtucket to take Price’s place on the roster, although it’s unclear if he’ll slot into his place in the rotation. Eight of his 24 appearances this season have been as a spot starter and Velazquez is an underwhelming 1-3 with a 6.94 ERA in those starts.

Either Velazquez, Brian Johnson, or a combination of both would seem to be the likely candidates to fill in while Price is sidelined. Johnson was used for a spot start during a doubleheader against the New York Yankees last weekend but lasted only three innings. Neither pitcher can be counted on to go deep into games so the Red Sox may essentially use bullpen games to fill the void while Price is out. Some scheduled off days this month may enable them to skip that turn in the rotation at least once.

Price had been the lone bright spot in a struggling rotation up until recently. He owned a 7-2 record and 3.16 ERA about a month ago before falling into a rut over his last four starts.

The lefty has failed to make it through five innings in three of his last four outings and he’s 0-3 with a 10.58 ERA over that span. The slump has marred his season numbers to the point where his 4.36 ERA and 1.32 WHIP would be his worst marks since his rookie season.

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His most recent start was his worst of the season, as Price was lit up for seven earned runs in 2 2/3 innings by the Yankees.

It’s unclear if the wrist was bothering him at the time. While that would be a convenient excuse to explain his recent woes, we can’t assume an injury is to blame seeing as this is the first we’ve heard of the issue and it’s coming four days after he pitched.

Boston’s starting rotation ranks 28th in the majors with a collective 6.24 ERA since the All-Star break. Price’s recent struggles have been a part of that but the other starters haven’t met expectations either and the options they have to fill in for Price don’t exactly fill us with confidence.

The Red Sox are 1-9 in their last 10 games and have fallen six games out of a Wild Card spot. They won’t close the gap without better results from their starting pitching and that will be harder to come by without their former Cy Young winner.