ARLINGTON -- For the Red Sox, the season started with a surprise roster move.
Liam Hendriks, who lost out on the closer¡¯s competition to Aroldis Chapman late in spring camp, was placed on the 15-day injured list with inflammation in his right elbow just hours before Thursday afternoon¡¯s opener against the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
Following his team¡¯s 5-2 victory, Hendriks downplayed the severity of the injury, which he said is a nerve issue.
¡°I had a nervy thing going on in there,¡± Hendriks said. ¡°It was a compressed nerve kind of thing that had been building. I¡¯ve had it for a while. I tried pitching through it, tried grinding through it, and it just wasn't getting any better. ¡°
On Thursday, Hendriks visited with Dr. Keith Meister, who performed his Tommy John surgery. There was no structural damage detected, and Hendriks received a cortisone shot. He said an MRI exam was deemed unnecessary.
¡°It¡¯s something that I've been battling throughout spring,¡± Hendriks said. ¡°My mindset is trying to pitch through things usually, and throw through it, and it'll get better eventually, but it just hasn't worked out so far. Got a shot today and ¡®no throw¡¯ for three to five days. And it shouldn't be a long layoff at all.¡±
The righty was hoping to pitch his first full season since 2022. Hendriks battled non-Hodgkin¡¯s lymphoma in ¡®23 and made it back to the mound in June, only to have Tommy John surgery after just six appearances.
¡°It's the smart thing to do. We don't want him to grind,¡± manager Alex Cora said. ¡°Velo was trending in the right direction until the last one, so we decided to put him on the IL.¡°
Last season, Hendriks¡¯ first with the Red Sox, he didn¡¯t appear in a Major League game as he continued his rehab from surgery.
¡°The last one [in Spring Training] wasn¡¯t good,¡± Cora said. ¡°Velo was down and he didn't bounce back. Obviously, when they were feeling the elbow, and that area, [they felt something].¡±
Lefty Brennan Bernardino and righty Cooper Criswell were battling for the final roster spot. Once the decision was made to shut down Hendriks, both pitchers made the team.
Cora is confident the team will be able to cover for Hendriks in the setup innings until he returns. The bullpen backed up their manager¡¯s confidence on Opening Day. Garrett Whitlock, making his first appearance since right elbow surgery in May 2024, fired two scoreless innings.
Chapman, who will pitch the ninth inning more often than not, worked the eighth against Texas, because the dangerous Corey Seager led off. Chapman won that left-on-left matchup with a strikeout. He worked around a Wyatt Langford single and got through the rest of the inning without incident.
After Wilyer Abreu staked the Sox to a 5-2 lead with a three-run blast in the top of the ninth, Justin Slaten mowed through Texas with a 1-2-3 ninth.
¡°We¡¯re good,¡± Cora said. ¡°We¡¯ve got Whit, we¡¯ve got Slaten, we¡¯ve got [Zack] Kelly, we¡¯ve got stuff. They have to step up anyway.¡±
At this point, it doesn¡¯t seem like Hendriks will be out for too long.