Story has hairline fracture in right wrist

BOSTON -- Red Sox second baseman Trevor Story now knows why his right hand hadn’t been recovering like he had hoped from the deep bruise he sustained on July 12 when he was hit by a pitch while in the middle of swinging.

A follow-up exam with a hand specialist on Friday revealed that Story has a hairline fracture in his right wrist. Boston manager Alex Cora said the fracture is in a different spot from where Story was hit by Tampa Bay’s Corey Kluber.

Before the latest diagnosis, the club was holding out hope that Story could be back in a matter of days, perhaps at some point next week. Now, he won’t swing a bat for at least 10 days, clouding the timeline of when he will be able to return to action.

“The bone bruise is [improved],” Cora said. “They found, close to the wrist, a little hairline fracture. The treatment doesn’t change. It’s kind of like we treat it the same way we’ve been doing. Basically like a sprain. But the only thing we have to do now is shut him down swinging-wise for probably a week and a half and see where we’re at.

“It’s something that it’s not a surprise for us, because it’s kind of like the same thing. The doctor feels like we keep doing what we’re doing treatment-wise. It’s just like we have to shut him down for 10 days, or whatever it is, from swinging, and then we’ll see where we’re at.”

Christian Arroyo returned from the injured list for the Red Sox on Saturday and will hold down most of the at-bats at second base until Story returns. Boston had been starting Jeter Downs, its No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline, and veteran defensive specialist Yolmer Sánchez in recent weeks and hadn’t been getting any results offensively.

At this point, the Red Sox can’t even venture a guess as to when Story will be back in a lineup that has struggled to put runs on the board as of late.

“When he starts swinging or whatever, we’ll see how he feels and we’ll go from there,” Cora said. “The other stuff, running and all that stuff, he’ll keep doing. Just the swinging part of it, we were trying to get to where we wanted, and he wanted to do the same thing. It wasn’t happening. Now, we just have to shut him down.”

The hairline fracture is the latest chapter in an up-and-down first season in Boston for Story, who signed a six-year, $140 million pact to join the club in March. In 81 games, Story is batting .221/.289/.423 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs. Defensively, he has been marvelous while transitioning from shortstop to second base.

Before Story was signed, Arroyo was projected to be the club’s starting second baseman. Now that he’s back from a left groin strain sustained on July 8, he will get that chance, at least for the time being.

“We trust [Arroyo],” Cora said. “It’s just a matter of keeping him on the field. We saw what he did in October last year, when he didn’t play for a month. He’s a good defender, obviously more comfortable in the infield than the outfield. His at-bats are good. Hopefully for now, [because] he’s going to play every day, he doesn’t try to do too much offensively. Just try to do your part, and that’s all we need right now.”