{"id":778050,"date":"2026-08-14T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T00:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/778050\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T00:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T00:00:39","slug":"red-sox-place-top-reliever-garrett-whitlock-on-injured-list-amid-skid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/778050\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox place top reliever Garrett Whitlock on injured list amid skid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Red Sox were without one of their best bullpen arms when they ended their five-game losing streak with a 7-0 victory over the Blue Jays in Toronto on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

They placed right-hander Garrett Whitlock on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation before the series finale, and recalled fellow righty Greg Weissert from Triple-A Worcester to take his roster spot.<\/p>\n

Whitlock has been one of the most reliable late-inning arms in the game since choosing to go back to the Boston bullpen following the 2024 season, after injuries hampered repeated efforts to work as a starter. He owns a 2.17 ERA over 107 regular-season appearances (116 innings) since the start of 2025, including a 2.05 ERA through 45 games (44 innings) this year.<\/p>\n

It was noteworthy when interim manager Chad Tracy did not use Whitlock in a tied 1-1 eighth inning Wednesday night. Righty Tyron Guerrero and rookie left-hander Alec Gamboa allowed a combined five runs in the frame, and the Red Sox \u00a0fell to the Blue Jays 6-4<\/a> after their ninth-inning rally fell short.<\/p>\n

Tracy revealed postgame Whitlock was dealing with \u201ca little bit of inflammation in his elbow,\u201d on and off. After the IL placement the following morning, the skipper stressed the decision was a combination of individual and collective need.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, what\u2019s best for Whit,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cTwo, with the condition of our bullpen and the other guys we\u2019ve used heavily, we\u2019re not in a position at the moment to go a guy down. We have to get him right because there\u2019s a lot of baseball left to be played.\u201d<\/p>\n

The affable, highly-regarded reliever told reporters the inflammation built up gradually, but stressed he wasn\u2019t concerned about more serious implications. Whitlock will remain with the team for the second and final leg of the road trip, a three-game weekend in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just the safe move and smart move,\u201d Whitlock told reporters, including MLB.com and MassLive, before Thursday\u2019s game, which he watched with his teammates in the visitors dugout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re worried about it needing surgery or anything like that,\u201d said Whitlock, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019, and internal brace in the spring of 2024. \u201cIt\u2019s not something where I\u2019ve felt anything like I did the previous times I\u2019ve needed surgery. It\u2019s nothing that concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitlock is the longest-tenured member of the current Red Sox pitching staff by far. Boston snatched him from the New York Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, from which the New York club left him unprotected after his Tommy John. He enjoyed a dominant rookie year with the 2021 Red Sox, posting a 1.96 ERA over 46 regular-season appearances and closing out the then-single-game Wild Card round against the Yankees that fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you lose a guy like Whit, it becomes more complicated,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cWe still have all our starters intact, we still have some very reliable back end arms. Weissert is a very capable arm. This is more, in my view, a part of a Major League season, 162 games you lean on guys and rely on them heavily to get us back to where we were.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Sox staved off a series sweep with Whitlock watching from the dugout. Weissert pitched the ninth after Payton Tolle\u2019s eight shutout innings, ensuring a restful day for the remainder of the Boston bullpen. The scoreless inning improved Weissert\u2019s season stat line to a 3.88 ERA over 49 games, with 45 strikeouts across 46 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Red Sox were without one of their best bullpen arms when they ended their five-game losing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,4506,4,89,27022,2543],"class_list":["post-778050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boston-red-sox","tag-baseball","tag-boston","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-bostonredsox","tag-garrett-whitlock","tag-mlb","tag-red-sox","tag-red-sox-injuries","tag-redsox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117090924892671662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}