Isiah

Kiner-Falefa

Over his last 20 games, Sogard is hitting .289/.372/.526 with four home runs, 14 runs scored, and 10 RBI. He has the second-best wRC+ on the Red Sox over that stretch, so this is just a day off. Isiah Kiner-Falefa will start in his place at second base.

This Red Sox team is very different from the one Kiner-Falefa left back in late June. In fact, Kiner-Falefa got hurt before the Red Sox’s torrid stretch that began in June. He figures to return to a utility role off the bench.

Kiner-Falefa is expected to stay in Triple-A Worcester until rosters expand next week to prevent the Red Sox from having to make a challenging decision in a roster crunch. The 31-year-old has been out with forearm inflammation since late June.

Kiner-Falefa, out with forearm inflammation, was moved to the 60-day IL earlier this week, but he’ll be eligible to return from that even before the rehab assignment starts. The Red Sox probably won’t rush to bring him back, as they also have Trevor Story returning and only so much room on the roster.

The procedural move opens up a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster for Adley Rutschman. The 31-year-old has been on the injured list with left forearm inflammation since late June, which means he’s missed arguably the most exciting stretch in franchise history. It’s unclear when he’ll be ready to return from the injured list.

Kiner-Falefa has been on the injured list for a month with left forearm inflammation, so he has missed all the fun in Boston. The veteran utilityman will likely need a couple more weeks before he can begin a rehab assignment. However, while he has been out, not only have the Red Sox been on fire, but Romy Gonzalez has returned from the injured list, and Trevor Story has started to progress in his recovery from sports hernia surgery. There may not be much of a role for Kiner-Falefa to return to.

It says a lot about the Red Sox lineup that this is actually a pretty significant loss for Boston. Kiner-Falefa homered against the Blue Jays in the eighth inning Thursday in his final at-bat before going on the IL and is batting .277/.344/.401 on the season. Andruw Monasterio figures to pick up some extra playing time for now.

It’s an issue that has been nagging at the versatile 31-year-old for a couple of weeks now and got worse following the cross-country flight to Seattle on Friday, so the Red Sox will take a look and see what’s going on. He’s considered day-to-day for now.

Mayer sat out on Thursday due to illness and wasn’t feeling well during the day on Friday, but he felt much better as game time approached and seemingly was able to talk his way into the lineup. He’ll start at shortstop and bat seventh with Isiah Kiner-Falefa heading back to the bench.

Kiner-Falefa’s homer off Trey Yesavage gave the Red Sox their third run of the three-game series and was immediately followed by Caleb Durbin going back-to-back to tie the game at 3-3. The RBI was Kiner-Falefa’s first since June 3. At .277/.344/.361, he’s one of the few Red Sox hitters exceeding expectations this year. He’s actually ahead of his career-high .699 OPS from 58 games in 2020.