LOS ANGELES — Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras is trending towards a return to the lineup for Sunday’s series finale, interim manager Chad Tracy said following Saturday night’s 3-2 win over the Dodgers.
“He’s doing better, I think as of right now we’re planning on having him in there but we are going to do one more check in the morning to make sure everything’s good,” Tracy said. “But he went through a lot of stuff today and checked a lot of boxes so we’ll make sure we do one more check and see if everything is good in the morning and plan on it, but we’ll see how he is.”
The Red Sox have been without Contreras for the majority of this weekend’s three-game series against the two-time defending World Series champions. Contreras went down in the top of the third after being hit in the head by a 95 mph fastball from Dodgers reliever Will Klein, and while he initially remained in the game he was removed for precautionary reasons when the Red Sox came back on defense the following inning.
Contreras has spent the past day in concussion protocol since but has passed a battery of tests and was seen mingling with his teammates in the visitor’s clubhouse both before and after Saturday’s win.
Even with their best hitter sidelined, the Red Sox have still managed to clinch a series win against the Dodgers with a chance to complete the sweep Sunday. Boston scored five runs in the top of the seventh to win 9-4 on Friday after Contreras left the game, and Saturday Ceddanne Rafaela hit two home runs to help the club pull out one of their best wins of the season.
Sunday’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:20 p.m. ET.