Alex Bregman hits first homer for Boston since returning from quad injury
CHICAGO (AP) — The Boston Red Sox are taking a deliberate approach with Alex Bregman in his return from a quad strain.
So far, everything is going smoothly.
Bregman played in consecutive games on Friday and Saturday for the first time since he got hurt in May. He was out of the lineup for Sunday's series finale against the Chicago Cubs, but he connected for a big pinch-hit homer in Boston's 6-1 victory.
'We got to be smart,' Bregman said. 'I'm back probably a month and a half, maybe a little less, early than we expected. The leg's feeling great. We're checking in every day pre- and postgame and just monitoring it.'
Bregman is a key player for Boston as it fights for a playoff spot in the last part of the season. The All-Star third baseman, who signed a $120 million, three-year deal with the Red Sox in February, is batting .294 with 12 homers and 38 RBIs in 56 games.
He strained his right quad while running the bases on May 23 against Baltimore. Forgoing a rehab stint in the minors, he returned on July 11 against Tampa Bay.
The homer against the Cubs was his first one since the injury.
'The training staff, the strength and conditioning staff here was amazing in helping me get back quickly and get back fully healthy," Bregman said. "I'm going to trust their plan and stick to that.'
Boston managed just one run while losing the first two games of its weekend series at Chicago. It had a 2-1 lead in the finale when Bregman broke it open with a three-run shot off Drew Pomeranz.
It was Bregman's second career pinch-hit homer, also accomplishing the feat on Sept. 8, 2021, against Seattle.
'The kid did what he usually does,' Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
The 31-year-old Bregman spent most of the game in the batting cage with assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, working on his positioning at the plate.
'After being away for like two months, kind of just standing more vertically and I wasn't starting in the same position,' said Bregman, a two-time World Series champion with Houston. 'So tried to get back in that starting position and then swing from behind the ball. Big credit to our hitting staff for noticing that and helping me out.'
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
recommended
Item 1 of 1
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
21 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
British Open champion Scottie Scheffler says comparisons to Tiger Woods ‘a bit silly'
Scheffler fiercely pumped his fist when it dropped, evoking memories of Woods and his 15-shot win at Pebble Beach in the 2000 US Open. Woods had a 12-foot par putt on the 16th hole of that final round, and it was the most emotion he showed all day when he made it. He wanted a clean card and wound up going his final 26 holes bogey-free. Woods was so utterly dominant that his only competition came from himself. That's how it felt with Scheffler when he won the claret jug for the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Advertisement Scottie Scheffler gives a fist pump after making a par save at the sixth hold during the final round of the 153rd British Open at Royal Portrush. Jon Super/Associated Press Scheffler went 32 holes without a bogey until he took two shots to get out of a fairway bunker on No. 8 and made double bogey. What stood out to Scheffler in his 'To only have one double — really one over-par hole in the last 36 holes of a major championship — that's how you're able to win these tournaments,' he said. Advertisement He won the British Open by four shots. There are plenty of numbers to consider, starting with his position at No. 1 in the world. No one has held it longer since Woods. Scheffler and Woods are the only players in the last 50 years to win two majors in the same year by at least four shots. Researchers with time on their hands at the PGA Tour discovered that Scheffler and Woods each went 1,197 days between winning their first and fourth majors. Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler. The list of players to have won The Open while holding top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. — The Open (@TheOpen) Enough of the comparisons, Scheffler said. 'I still think they're a bit silly,' he said. 'Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf.' Tiger Woods won the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach by a major-record 15 shots for his third of 15 major titles. ELISE AMENDOLA/Associated Press For majors alone, a better comparison would be with Rory McIlroy. He also won four majors in three years, including two of them in 2014. McIlroy won a US Open and a And then he went 11 years without a major. Greatness in golf is also about longevity. Advertisement Scheffler won for the fourth time this year and now has 20 victories worldwide. He has won 11 straight times with the 54-hole lead. The 29-year-old from Texas was introduced as champion golfer of the year, a title the R&A has used for more than a century. Scheffler at this rate might be champion golfer of his generation. The winning putt. This is the one. — The Open (@TheOpen) And to think he was slowed at the start of the year recovering from a The year's top highlight still might be 'I also had the three wins when Scottie wasn't quite on his game,' he said. Also driving the comparisons to Woods are high praise from just about everyone who has had to face Scheffler since that first win in 2022. 'He is the bar that we're all trying to get to,' McIlroy said. 'I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here's Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance,' said A statement start from Scottie. — The Open (@TheOpen) Any hesitation about comparisons — besides the 15-4 tally in majors, as Scheffler is quick to point out — is their style of play. Woods was as dynamic as he was relentless, especially with recovery shots. Scheffler doesn't have that many because he's rarely out of position. Advertisement Woods was groomed for stardom when he appeared on 'The Mike Douglas Show' at age 2. Scheffler never cared about anything other than playing golf and getting better at it. 'He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did. He's not bringing it to a non-golf audience necessarily,' Jordan Spieth said. 'He doesn't want to go do the stuff that a lot of us go do, corporately, anything like that.' He works. He competes. He wins. That's what Woods did, and that's what matters to Scheffler. 'I don't focus on that kind of stuff,' Scheffler said of the comparisons. 'That's not what motivates me. I'm not motivated by winning championships. I don't look at the beginning of the year and just say, 'I want to win X amount of tournaments.' I don't do that. 'When I wake up to practice, what motivates me is getting to live out my dream,' he said. 'I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I'm called to do it to the best of my ability.'
Boston Globe
21 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Red Sox could use upgrade at first base, but Abraham Toro and Romy Gonzalez have been complementing each other
'They're doing an outstanding job,' said manager Alex Cora. 'You put them both in the blender, it's a good first baseman.' Toro — evidently opposed to a Cubist dissolution of the self — offered a less violent portrait. Advertisement 'We complete each other,' Toro said of his first base partnership with Gonzalez. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up What are the dimensions of completeness? Since the Triston Casas injury, Sox first basemen have offered stability, with a combined .265/.307/.419 line overall — respectable, middle-of-the-pack production. " However, the production has been skewed. Most of the impact has come courtesy of Gonzalez, whose self-described 'extremely locked in' status has been both the stuff of T-shirts among his teammates and tremendous contributions. Sox first basemen have posted a .333/.354/.533 against lefties since the Casas injury. Against righties during the same stretch, Sox first basemen were hitting .236/.287/.371 — good for a .658 OPS that ranks 23rd among big league first basemen in that time. Those numbers have been trending steadily down. After the team's first basemen posted a .788 OPS against righties in the first four weeks after Casas suffered his injury, the team's production has cratered to a .204/.263/.301 mark since the beginning of June. Advertisement Clearly, there's room for improvement. But will there be available players who represent upgrades? It looks like a late-forming market — something that prompted the Phillies to move aggressively to sign free-agent righthander David Robertson after a workout for interested teams (including the Red Sox, who were represented by Breslow and assistant GM Eddie Romero) on Sunday. Teams are still deciding whether to buy or sell, and so the Phillies pushed forward with a bird in hand. 'A lot of things change daily at this time,' said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. 'Some clubs, when we talked to them last week, they had one mind-set, and then after a weekend — good or bad — they had another mind-set. That may change a couple more times between now and the 31st. Ten days until the trading deadline, that's a long time.' For the Sox, those 10 days could define whether the Diamondbacks elect to keep or trade free-agent-to-be Josh Naylor, a 2023 All-Star who entered Monday hitting .292/.361/.452 with 11 homers. Because he is a pure rental (albeit one who could receive a qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks — thus entitling Arizona to draft-pick compensation if he departs as a free agent), Naylor is seen as the most prominent first baseman on the market. Advertisement Ryan O'Hearn of the Orioles also bears watching, with Baltimore resigned to dealing pending free agents. O'Hearn, who replaced Devers as the designated hitter on the AL All-Star team, is hitting .282/.378/.458. There have been rumblings that the Rays could consider dealing Yandy Díaz (.294/.352/.468 with 15 homers), and it's endlessly fascinating to imagine a scenario in which Tampa Bay packages Díaz (who is signed through 2026) and a starting pitcher such as Taj Bradley or Shane Baz for a Sox outfielder such as Wilyer Abreu. But such a scenario is seen by multiple major league sources as extremely unlikely, with a deal of such magnitude seen as a near-impossibility for division rivals who are competing for a postseason berth. The A's merit watching both because they're one of the few teams without realistic hopes of contending this season and because they have a surplus of first baseman/left field/DH bats in 22-year-old rookie masher Nick Kurtz, long-term DH/corner outfielder Brent Rooker, and first baseman/corner outfielder Tyler Soderstrom. There's roughly zero chance the A's would deal Kurtz or Rooker, but Soderstrom — a 23-year-old who crushes righties (.270/.357/.504 with 17 homers) — is seen across the industry as a potential trade target. With four remaining years of team control after 2025, the A's are in no rush to move him. So, to circle back: Will the Sox upgrade at first between now and the deadline? It's still too early to say. Certainly, the Sox have learned never to be too comfortable at the position — but they feel better about the blend of Gonzalez and Toro than they've felt about many other combinations. 'We've had a lot of people at first base the last four years — a lot of them,' said Cora. 'From Kyle [Schwarber] playing first base, Franchy [Cordero] playing first base — we have tried a lot of stuff. [But] these two guys, in spring training they showed they can play the position, and throughout the season, they're getting better. … I think both of them have been great.' Advertisement Te players know better than to assume what the team will look like by July 31 — or what roles they might play on the other side of the deadline. 'I think we've been doing a good job with that platoon kind of role. Romy has been really great against lefties, and I've been able to handle righties. Whatever the team does, if they're trying to add on, I just want to stay here and hopefully be a part [of it] for the playoffs,' said Toro,' who was part of a surprising deadline deal between the Astros and Mariners in 2021. 'Hopefully I stay on the team. Whatever role they want me to be, I'll be happy to do what they ask.' Alex Speier can be reached at
Chicago Tribune
21 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Pete Crow-Armstrong out of Chicago Cubs lineup Monday with a bruised right knee and RHP Ben Brown recalled
The Chicago Cubs are hopeful Pete Crow-Armstrong's absence from the lineup will be limited. Entering Monday's series opener against the Kansas City Royals, Crow-Armstrong had started all but one game for the Cubs this season as the 23-year-old All-Star became a staple in the middle of their order. His ability to play every day while delivering elite defense and taking his offensive production to another level this year has been valuable. However, a bruised right knee kept Crow-Armstrong out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Royals. Manager Craig Counsell described Crow-Armstrong as day-to-day and hopes he is back in the lineup Tuesday. The knee felt a little swollen after Crow-Armstrong woke up Monday, Counsell said, so they wanted to give him the day off. It's not exactly certain when he banged it up during Sunday's game against Boston, but, looking at replays, Counsell believes it likely happened during the rundown in the second inning when he awkwardly slid into third base. Crow-Armstrong was tagged out by Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, after which he and Counsell argued that Crochet obstructed the base on the sequence. 'It's why it was a blocking-the-bag situation because the slide was clearly altered,' Counsell said Monday. 'If you watch the slide and replay, it's not a normal-looking slide, and further reason that was blocking the bag.' Seiya Suzuki made his first career start in center field Monday night with Crow-Armstrong sidelined. Counsell opted to go with Suzuki at the position rather than Ian Happ, who has played 240 big-league games in center field, including 199 starts, though none since 2022 (three games, 12 innings). Both players got limited game reps in center field during spring training. 'This is not a scenario we want to consider a lot, obviously, just because we want Pete in there,' Counsell said. 'In the end, just leaving Ian where he's at and just putting Seiya out there — Seiya has been running around there a little bit during (batting) practices and stuff like that.' The Cubs opted for an opener Monday with reliever Ryan Brasier getting the start. Right-hander Ben Brown was recalled before the game, giving the Cubs a multi-inning option to follow Brasier. The Cubs optioned reliever Ethan Roberts. The Cubs sent Brown to Triple-A Iowa last month to give him a reset and a break in his workload to help manage his innings. Brown made two starts with Iowa and allowed one run over nine innings. 'He pitched very well, very efficient in both outings, did exactly what he wanted to do,' Counsell said. 'There's not a new pitch, there's nothing new happening there. He's got to execute better, it's as simple as that.'
