Jordan

Hicks

The Red Sox have yet to give a timeline on how long they expect the hard-throwing right-hander to be sidelined for. He’ll miss a couple of weeks at an absolute minimum. Chris Murphy was recalled from Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding move to take his place in the team’s bullpen on Friday.

Chris Murphy is set to replace him in the Boston bullpen. Hicks gave up four runs while getting just one out last night against the Guardians. He has an 8.20 ERA in 21 appearances for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox had Hicks warming up for the ninth before a 90-minute rain delay and still brought him in afterwards, which obviously makes for an unusual sequence of events for a reliever. Hicks did end up throwing 15 of his 23 pitches for strikes, but he yanked two of the balls, resulting in the HBPs, and a pair of singles doomed him. He likely remains the No. 3 option in the pen, behind Aroldis Chapman, who is battling back spasms, and Garrett Whitlock, was was “under the weather” on Monday.

Hicks entered the game after Aroldis Chapman had to leave with a trainer. He got out of a jam in the eighth inning by allowing a line drive to second base that Ceddanne Rafaela turned into a double play. In the ninth, he got two quick outs before issuing a walk and getting himself out of trouble yet again. Hicks has still struggled with command, throwing 14 of his 25 pitches for strikes, but he will be in the mix to close if Chapman were to miss time. He’s probably behind Garrett Whitlock for now, but Whitlock was not available to pitch on Sunday.

The 37-year-old southpaw was experiencing very diminished velocity before exiting with a trainer, topping out at 95 mph. He’ll head for further evaluation to determine exactly what’s going on there, but there are some rumors that he was seen vomiting in the bullpen before the game, so there’s a chance he’s simply battling an illness. Jordan Hicks came on to replace him, but Garrett Whitlock figures to be the next man up if Chapman requires a trip to the injured list. He was unavailable today after pitching in four of the last six games. Stay tuned as the Red Sox should have an update on his status after the game.

With Aroldis Chapman used in the eighth inning to face James Wood, it was Hicks who was given a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Sunday. The outing was not without its concerns. Josh Bell scorched a 107.6 mph lineout to start the inning, and then Brady House walked. Hicks was able to strike out Riley Adams, but a wild pitch moved House to second and a single from Daylen Lile drove in a run and brought CJ Abrams to the plate as the tying run. Hicks was able to get Abrams to fly out, but the reliever was averaging just 96.8 mph on his sinker, which is down from where he normally sits as a reliever. He also threw five sliders, but none of them were in the strike zone. The role here seems great for Hicks, but we have to hope that he’s healthy enough to take advantage of it.

Weissert was brought in to get the final out of the sixth and then stayed for the seventh, which opened with a single, an error, a walk and then a Christian Encarnacion-Strand grand slam. That still wasn’t enough to get Weissert lifted, though, and he wound up allowing one more run on a double and a single before being removed with two outs. Weissert came into this one with a 2.84 ERA and had seemingly emerged as a No. 2 option in the Red Sox pen with Justin Slaten down, something that seems worth paying attention to since Aroldis Chapman could be traded this month. However, this is a setback, and he also has some new competition in the form of Jordan Hicks, though Hicks also gave up three runs — one earned — while getting two outs tonight.

Hicks joins Boston’s relief mix ahead of Monday’s series opener against the Reds. The hard-throwing 28-year-old figures to operate in high-leverage relief spots after coming over earlier this month from the Giants as one of the pieces in the stunning Rafael Devers trade. He’s been tinkering with a new slider during recent rehab outings so it’ll be interesting to see how he incorporates the wrinkle into his existing arsenal.

Hicks figures to join Boston’s bullpen at some point during a three-game series against the Reds at Fenway Park, which gets underway on Monday evening. The hard-throwing 28-year-old was acquired earlier this month from the Giants in the Rafael Devers trade and figures to pitch in high-leverage spots.

The 28-year-old right-hander threw 23 pitches on the afternoon, only 10 of them for strikes. The damage done against him came on a two-run blast off the bat of Joey Loperfido. He’ll probably need a couple of clean outings before he’s an option to join the Red Sox’ bullpen.