Jarrod Saltalamacchia hospitalized for lower leg infection

Jarrod Saltalamacchia may have conquered his throwing problems at Triple-A, but it took him only a week with the Red Sox to get hit with the same injury bug that has tried to wreck Boston’s season. Saltalamacchia, who was acquired from the Rangers on July 31 and called up from Triple-A last week, has been hospitalized for what the team is calling “an unknown infection in his lower right leg.” He’s been placed on the disabled list, with Dusty Brown coming up from Triple-A to serve as Victor Martinez’s backup behind the plate. Terry Francona told Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal that Saltalamacchia is being tested for staph infection, among other things.

I think we thought it would be a quick look and he’d be back. An hour turned into two and three and he ended up getting back right about game time. It’s my understanding that they’ve eliminated the MRSA but they’re waiting on some blood tests to come back on the staph.

Between last year’s surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and this year’s battle with the yips Saltalamacchia has already had an amazing number of roadblocks thrown in front of him, so hopefully this proves to be a minor setback.