Sitting down with the legendary Peter Gammons
Just when it appeared as all was right with the Red Sox' world, along came miserable, rainy, cold Monday night at Fenway Park.
It was bad enough for the Sox that they saw the momentum gained via a five-game win streak halted thanks to a Blue Jays 6-2 win (snapping Toronto's three-game losing streak). But there was a bigger picture item that truly put another dark cloud over the Sox' situation.
In the first inning, Connor Wong's catching hand intersected with the bat of Toronto's George Springer, resulting in catcher's interference and, much worse, a fractured pinkie finger for the backstop.
"He has a small fracture in the pinkie area," said manager Alex Cora. "He's going to the IL. How long, we don’t know. But just, late swing got him good. So we're gonna have to make a move."
"I’m obviously frustrated," Wong said. “I feel like that’s something we go over, who the potential catcher's interference people are. I knew that going in [against Springer]. I felt like I was in a good spot and [it was] just bad luck I think."
While Wong had gotten off to a slow start at the plate (2-for-23), analytics suggested his defense had improved dramatically.
Carlos Narvaez now figures to get the majority of playing time behind the plate, with the Red Sox having to weight their options for a second catcher.
It appears that the team will be promoting Blake Sabol, who is the only other backstop on the 40-man roster.The 27-year-old Sabol has 382 major league plate appearances, all coming with the San Francisco Giants.
The other option would have been 31-year-old catcher Seby Zavala, who has played in 194 major league contests as part of the White Sox, Diamondbacks and Mariners organizations. Zavala (who is not on the 40-man roster) is considered the better defensive option.