Red Sox News: Isaiah Campbell rehab, pitching prospect promoted, Trop drought ends

The Boston Red Sox placed right-handed reliever Isaiah Campbell on the 15-day injured list on April 12 with a shoulder impingement.

On May 2, over a month after his stint on the IL began, Campbell made his first rehab outing with the Worcester Red Sox. He fanned three batters and walked one in one scoreless inning. Skipper Alex Cora said that Campbell needs a few outings in Worcester, including back-to-back appearances, before he can be recalled to the Sox.

Campbell originally kept his shoulder pain under wraps and hidden from Red Sox trainers, but his final two appearances before his stint on the IL were rough. Campbell logged a 2.08 ERA in his first five outings through April 6, but by April 11, his ERA was 12.79.

Campbell's scoreless rehab appearance showed promise. The Red Sox are almost through their pitcher injury setbacks — Garrett Whitlock's season may be over, but Boston's bullpen is nearing full strength again.

Red Sox pitching prospect Luis Perales promoted to Portland

Red Sox pitching prospect Luis Perales has been promoted to Double-A Portland. The righty has made noise with High-A Greenville and his promotion has been a long time coming.

The 21-year-old has posted a 3.42 ERA, 46 strikeouts and 10 walks in 26.1 innings with Greenville. Perales' promotion closely followed his standout performance on May 21, where he tossed five shutout innings and fanned 12 batters. His 15.72 strikeouts per nine innings and 1.44 WHIP also stand out.

Perales ranks as Boston's second-best pitching prospect behind Wikelman González, who began his season in Portland.

Red Sox collect first sweep at Tropicana Field since 2019

The Red Sox's bats came alive at Tropicana Field — Boston collected 18 runs in three games against the division-rival Rays and notched its first sweep at the Trop since 2019. That Sox team included Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Steve Pearce and Dustin Pedroia. My goodness.

The Rays took three out of four games at Fenway Park last week, but the Sox took them all back in high-energy fashion. Boston exploded for five runs in the fifth inning on May 22 to secure a rare comeback victory to officially end the drought at the Trop.

The Red Sox were 2-15 in Tampa Bay since the start of 2022, and Boston's gritty bats and clutch hits turned its fortunes around. Hopefully, the Red Sox can transfer that level of gutsy play to their home performances — Boston is just 10-13 at Fenway Park this season.

More Red Sox reads: