Mitch Moreland returned from the injured list Friday. Two at-bats later he was back in the trainer's room.
The first baseman was forced from the Red Sox' game against the Rays in the sixth inning after experiencing right quad tightness. Moreland, who hadn't played since May 25 due to a bad back, had gone 0-for-2 with a pair of groundouts before giving way to Michael Chavis.
"The second ground ball, he felt it," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora after his team's 5-1 loss to the Rays. "He went out and played defense and then he came in and told me about it. Just talking to (head trainer) Brad (Pearson). He doesn’t feel great. I’ll talk with him a little more when I’m done here with Dave (Dombrowski) and see what we can do."
Before the series opener, Cora was optimistic regarding Moreland's return.
"Good defender, good offensive player," the manager said of Moreland. "We know what he brings to the table. Obviously, he feels better but that helps him out too to reset a little bit. This is a guy, he grinds through a lot and pushes himself to be in the lineup whether he feels great or not. We’ve been talking today, he feels awesome. So just put him there and get a few pitches up in the zone and hit one off the wall and pull one for power."
Moreland came into the night hitting .228 with a .870 OPS and 13 homers.
J.D. Martinez was out of the lineup with his lingering back issue, while Steve Pearce (back) reported he felt better but still not well enough to participate in baseball activities.