The numbers speak to the difference in Steven Wright between two starts against the Mariners.
On June 11, he limited them to one run in seven innings of a 1-0 loss. Five days later, he allowed three homers and 10 runs in 14-10 win.
It looked like something was up and it was. The Red Sox placed the knuckleballer on the 10-day disabled list on Tuesday with knee soreness stemming from offseason cartilage restoration surgery.
"It's just such a different surgery, you know?" Wright said. "It's like it something we've been dealing with pretty much since I started coming back. It's one of those surgeries, you're going to have peaks and valleys. The last couple of weeks it just hasn't responded the way that I thought it was going to. Then throughout, between Seattle and then Seattle it just never had a chance to really recover like I thought, but it wasn't nothing that I thought I couldn't go out there and perform. But then afterwards I came and I talked to the trainers and just kind of collectively kind of agreed to just let it calm down a little bit."
Wright still intends to throw and play catch to keep his arm in shape, but he doesn't anticipate throwing off a mound while he heals.
"I mean, it's been affecting me all year," Wright said. "It's something that I'm going to have to learn to pitch with. It's something that I'm still trying to figure out when it comes to how much intensity I can put on that knee."
With Wright (2-1, 3.38) sidelined and left-hander Drew Pomeranz scheduled to throw three simulated innings on Wednesday, the Red Sox will need a starter to pitch for Wright on Thursday against the Angels. Manager Alex Cora said the candidates would likely be left-handers Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez, who have gone a combined 6-2 with a 3.45 ERA between them.
"It sucks, honestly, especially the way (Wright) was throwing the ball," Cora said. "But coming into the season we knew we were going to have some situations like this and having some guys in the minor leagues and obviously Hector and BJ, we feel comfortable they're going to do the job."
