Hirokazu Sawamura becomes fifth Red Sox player to test positive for COVID-19

The Red Sox’ COVID-19 outbreak continued on Tuesday as Hirokazu Sawamura tested positive, making him the fifth player and seventh member of the organization to test positive since last Friday.

Sawamura joined Kiké Hernandez, Christian Arroyo, Matt Barnes and Martín Pérez as the Red Sox players who have tested positive, with Josh Taylor also out and quarantining as a close contact. Additionally, strength and conditioning coach Kiyoshi Momose and coach Ramon Vazquez tested positive, and coach Tom Goodwin is out as a close contact.

And it certainly may not be over.

“I’m concerned,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I am. It feels like it’s one every day. It’s just the nature of where we’re at. This is our reality. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing as far as testing and see what happens. Hopefully this is the end of it, but there are no guarantees.”

Cora said they were in “standby mode” before Tuesday night’s game against the Rays as they continued to go through contact tracing.

Under Major League Baseball protocols, players who test positive generally have to be isolated for 10 days before they can return, with some exceptions. Close contacts, if they’re vaccinated, do not have to quarantine but unvaccinated players do.

The Red Sox are one of seven teams in baseball who still have not reached the 85% vaccination threshold needed to relax protocols. Cora was vague when asked if he or any players were frustrated that unvaccinated players could have brought this outbreak in but said he wasn’t.

“I’m not going to go into details with this, but I’m not as frustrated with the situation because of knowing everything else about it,” Cora said. “I’ve been saying all along, it’s their choice, and you have to respect that. It just happened to us. I’m not as frustrated as if it was a different way, let’s put it that way.”

Still, the Red Sox are scrambling with a suddenly depleted bullpen and roster uncertainty as they await results of further COVID tests. Cora is doing his best to stay upbeat about the situation, but it’s hard.

“You get home and then you turn on the TV and you watch and you’re like, ‘Oh OK. We got a wild card spot. It’s one less day of the season, we’re closer to the end of it,’” Cora said. “You try to put it as positively as possible. It’s not easy because whenever you see (trainer) Brad’s (Pearson) number or Chaim’s number, they’re not calling you to say hi or good morning, how was your night? It seems like whenever Brad texts me or calls me, it’s something negative.

“I’m learning a lot. I think, like I said, the group here, they do a tremendous job just trying to keep us healthy. We have to do what we have to do, but it’s not easy and it’s been going through the league a lot. The timing of this, for us, is not perfect, but at the same time, we have to fight, we have to grind. There’s no quit. We still have a lead in the wild card and tomorrow is September 1st, and September should be fun. It’s not a grind. When you’re fighting for a playoff spot, you got a chance to play in October, it should be fun.”

Hernandez feeling better

Hernandez, who was the first player to test positive last Friday, is continuing to quarantine in Cleveland and his health is improving, Cora said. And he seems to be acting like himself.

“He FaceTime’d me today,” Cora said. “He had a full uniform. He was actually wearing the grey top. He has his old cleats and his hat, running around the room. He’s going nuts. He’s just so full of energy. He said, ‘I feel great. I was ready to go two days ago.’ We can have a meeting inside with TVs, he actually prepared the offensive meeting today. Should be fun, should be good, looking forward to that.

“I mean, he’s hilarious. The fact that he cannot do too much, he has his whole bag there and that’s it. There’s nothing he can do. He can’t hit, he can’t throw, just watch games and try to stay positive with the whole situation.”

Roster moves

Hunter Renfroe, after missing five games on the bereavement list due to the death of his father, was activated for Tuesday night’s game. …

Cora said there was a “good chance” Ryan Brasier will be activated on Wednesday. The reliever has missed the entire season so far after a series of injuries. … Danny Santana was expected to play his final rehab game with Double-A Portland on Tuesday night in the second game of a doubleheader.

Brad Peacock, who was acquired Monday in a trade with the Indians, started Tuesday’s game. He is just the eighth different Red Sox starting pitcher in 134 games, after they used 16 in 60 games last season.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3kJjZCj