{"id":39617,"date":"2025-04-09T07:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T07:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=39617"},"modified":"2025-04-09T07:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T07:10:09","slug":"injury-blow-red-sox-lose-starting-catcher-to-painful-fracture-in-costly-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=39617","title":{"rendered":"Injury Blow: Red Sox Lose Starting Catcher to Painful Fracture in Costly Setback"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2208849895-e1744135927382.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2208849895-e1744135927382.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2208849895-e1744135927382.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2208849895-e1744135927382.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"\" width=\"780\" height=\"437\" data-img-load-time=\"1345\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1607\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"106\" data-end=\"402\">The\u00a0Red Sox\u2019\u00a0five-game winning streak came to an end Monday night at Fenway, and they also lost their starting catcher in the process. Connor Wong went down early in Boston\u2019s 6-2 loss to the Blue Jays, and now the Sox are bracing to be without him for an undetermined stretch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"404\" data-end=\"779\">Wong took a painful blow on his catching in the first inning on what was already a raw, rainy night. George Springer hit Wong on the left hand with his backswing, leading to a catcher\u2019s interference call and, much worse, a fracture in Wong\u2019s left pinky. The 28-year-old stayed in to complete the inning, but he did not return. Carlos Narvaez took over at catcher for the remainder of the evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"781\" data-end=\"996\">\u201cHe has a small fracture in the pinky area,\u201d\u00a0Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after the game. \u201cHe\u2019s going to the IL. How long, we don\u2019t know. But just, a late swing got him good. So we\u2019re gonna have to make a move.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"998\" data-end=\"1311\">Wong had been locked in as Boston\u2019s primary catcher for the season, having shouldered the load the past two seasons with 126 starts in both \u201923 and \u201924. While the \u201csmall fracture\u201d isn\u2019t a season-derailing injury, it does leave the Sox thin behind the plate, where they have limited depth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1313\" data-end=\"1604\">For now, the job falls to Narvaez, though it\u2019s a steep ask for the 26-year-old, who\u2019s seen action in just 11 big-league games. Narvaez has been off to a strong start at the plate this season (6-for-14 over his first four games), but was 0-for-4 in last night\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1606\" data-end=\"1928\">Beyond Narvaez, the Red Sox depth chart is thin. The obvious move would be to bring up Blake Sabol from Triple-A Worcester. Sabol, who\u2019s on the 40-man roster, has some solid experience from his time with the Giants, where he played in 121 games over the last two seasons. He\u2019s hitting .250 (5-for-20) with a pair of doubles and four RBIs for the WooSox this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2268\" data-end=\"2569\">Another option is veteran Seby Zavala, who\u2019s got nearly 200 big-league games under his belt between stints with the White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. Zavala doesn\u2019t offer much with the bat \u2014 a career .205 hitter, and just .111 through five games in Worcester \u2014 but he\u2019s a well-regarded defender.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2571\" data-end=\"2735\">Zavala isn\u2019t on the 40-man roster, but there\u2019s room to add him after the club cleared a spot by dealing Quinn Priester to Milwaukee earlier Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Images The\u00a0Red Sox\u2019\u00a0five-game winning streak came to an end Monday night at Fenway, and they also lost their starting catcher in the process. Connor Wong went&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Injury Blow: Red Sox Lose Starting Catcher to Painful Fracture in Costly Setback - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=39617\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Injury Blow: Red Sox Lose Starting Catcher to Painful Fracture in Costly Setback - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Images The\u00a0Red Sox\u2019\u00a0five-game winning streak came to an end Monday night at Fenway, and they also lost their starting catcher in the process. 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