Shane Victorino

CHICAGO — Shane Victorino isn’t in the Red Sox lineup for the second game of their three-game series against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. The right fielder left Monday night’s game in the sixth inning after aggravating his left hamstring.

Starting in Victorino’s place in right will be Daniel Nava, with Jonny Gomes taking over at left.

Here is the Red Sox’ lineup against White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana:

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Jonny Gomes LF

Dustin Pedroia 2B

David Ortiz DH

Mike Napoli 1B

Daniel Nava RF

Will Middlebrooks 3B

Stephen Drew SS

Jarrod Saltalamacchia C

Felix Doubront P

For all the matchups, click here.

Jose Iglesias is making his first career appearance at third base on Tuesday. (AP)

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — It’s been well over a month since Jose Iglesias was optioned back to Triple-A Pawtucket after his tremendous start to 2013 as a fill-in for Stephen Drew. Things have not been going as well for Iglesias in Pawtucket, however, and he’s seeking ways to improve his chances of making it back to the big leagues.

Iglesias, who is renowned as a slick fielding shortstop, is getting the start at third base on Tuesday afternoon against the Indianapolis Indians, the first appearance of his professional career at a position other than shortstop.

“Iggy’s been taking ground balls down there for about two weeks, a little bit at second base, a little bit at third base, just to expose him to the positions,” PawSox manager Gary DiSarcina said before Tuesday’s game.

In doing so, the Sox hope to put him in position to find more pathways to contribute in the big leagues. DiSarcina, a former major league shortstop, has experience adjusting to both third base and second base, and has been helping Iglesias with the transition. Read the rest of this entry »

Right-hander Rubby De La Rosa was scratched from his scheduled Tuesday start. (AP)

PAWTUCKET — Red Sox right-hander Rubby De La Rosa was scratched from his scheduled start on Tuesday in Triple-A Pawtucket due to what manager Gary DiSarcina characterized as a left intercostal injury incurred while playing catch on Monday. DiSarcina suggested that the injury did not appear to be serious, but noted that the precise duration for which the hard-throwing prospect will be sidelined remains unknown. Yeah, he came up yesterday, with…he played catch and on the last throw he kind of tweaked his side muscles, so he’ll be down today, Hernandez will fill in.

“He’s feeling better today, to what level or degree, I don’t know. It just happened yesterday, I think he said it happened on his last throw. Any time a pitcher feels something in his intercostal area, you don’t want to send him out there. I think it was on his left side, actually, so his pull side,” said DiSarcina. “It’s no biggie, just sit him down for this start, reevaluate him … It won’t set back Rubby too much.”

Left-hander Chris Hernandez will make the spot start in place of De La Rosa. De La Rosa, 24, is amidst a stretch of 18 innings without permitting an earned run, a stretch during which he has 22 strikeouts and eight walks. On the year, he has a 3.65 ERA with opponents hitting just .180 against him in eight starts.

Felix Doubront

CHICAGO – Felix Doubront has changed his ways – no more peaking at the radar gun readings.

“Before I did when I was trying to throw harder when I was throwing 91 (mph) and (velocity) wasn’t there,” said Tuesday night’s Red Sox starter. “But now I’m not worried about it. I stopped looking at it. Before I as looking a lot and I would see 90 and I would have to forget about it. But Thursday (his last start) there was just a couple of times I looked, and it was for changeups to see if I threw it too hard. Not the fastball. I’m not focused on that.”

Much has been made of Doubront’s dip in velocity. He has hit 94 mph just three times this season after reaching the number 493 times a year ago.

But the lefty has had an awakening.

Doubront is fifth among major league starters in strikeouts per nine innings (10.13). But what truly feeds the hurler’s new mindset is the fact that 30 of his 42 punch-outs have come on his fastball, even with the decreased heat.

“I was watching [Toronto starter Mark] Buehrle and I realized I don’t need 95. Nice changeup. Nice curveball. Nice cutter. Whatever. Just to get them out,” Doubront said.

“Everybody knows I’m not throwing 95, but it can seem like that because of the other stuff. Like (last) Thursday, there were a lot of guys who were looking for fastballs and they got a changeup or a breaking ball. Then the next at-bat they were looking for breaking balls and they were looking for fastballs. Pitching backwards has helped strikeout more guys.

“I started getting swing and misses and strikeouts and made me realize I can strike guys out like before. I don’t have to overthrow, but I just have to hit the spot.”

Doubront has actually been getting more swings and misses on his fastball than a year ago, with 21 percent of his whiffs coming on the heater compared to 15 percent a year ago. (His overall swing and miss rate is relatively the same this year compared to ’12.)

The understanding has allowed to Doubront to remain in elite company when it comes to striking batters out, as was evidenced when six of his seven strikeouts against Tampa Bay last week came on fastballs.

“It’s not like I’m looking to strikeout every batter,” he said. “It just happens I’m throwing the right pitch. I’m not throwing hard right now, but I still get swings and misses.I put (velocity0 out of my mind. I don’t have 95 or 96 yet. I’m just going to pitch with my stuff. “

Felix Doubront

Felix Doubront will look to start a new winning streak for the Red Sox on Tuesday night, as he takes the hill for the middle game of the three-game set against the White Sox. He’ll be matched up against another young lefty, Jose Quintana.

Despite a 3-1 record, Doubront’s performance in 2013 has the Red Sox looking at what other options they have to round out the rotation. They tried skipping his turn in the rotation in favor of rookie Allen Webster, but Doubront ended up pitching 5 1/3 innings out of the bullpen after Webster gave up eight runs in 1 2/3 innings. Doubront’s last outing was good enough to earn him another shot at sticking in the rotation. He allowed two runs on three hits to the Rays, but the red flags still were evident. Doubront walked a season-high six batters, the fourth start this year in which he’s walked four or more. The 25-year-old lefty also failed to go more than five innings for the fourth time in six starts this season.

The dilemma that the Red Sox face with Doubront is a complicated one. In 2012, the starter faced some of the same problems he’s been struggling with this season. Lack of control has been a big issue for Doubront over the course of his short career; he averaged four walks per nine innings in 2012, and that rate has risen to 5.30 through seven games in 2013. He’s also been very inefficient, failing to go more than six innings in 21 of his 29 starts in 2012, while 6 2/3 innings remains his high-water mark for 2013, managing to make it into the seventh in his last two starts in April. Regardless, Doubront remained in the rotation for the entirety of 2012 (except for a brief DL stint in mid-August). But 2013 brings another confusing issue for the young lefty. Doubront has lost more than two mph on his fastball, which averaged 93 mph in the last two seasons. Both Doubront and manager John Farrell insist that the loss of velocity is not being caused by a physical issue, however.

The job still belongs to Doubront as of Monday night, when he’ll take on an underperforming White Sox offense, looking to lower his 6.03 ERA. Doubront has only faced the White Sox twice in his career, making two starts against them last year. He allowed only four runs on nine hits in 12 innings against Chicago, striking out four and walking six.

Jose Quintana

Doubront will be matched up against the 24-year-old Quintana, who is 2-1 with a 3.97 ERA in his second year in the majors. Quintana has seen the Red Sox only once, back in 2012. The lefty gave the White Sox eight innings of shutout ball, allowing only five hits while fanning two without walking a batter. Quintana got very little run support, however, and the Red Sox took the contest thanks to a three-run walk-off home run from outfielder Cody Ross.

Quintana made his major league debut for the White Sox in May of 2012, throwing 5 2/3 innings in relief, holding the Indians to only one hit without allowing a run. He earned a spot in the rotation after starter John Danks was placed on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. The lefty finished the year with a 6-6 record and 3.76 ERA in 22 starts and three relief appearances. Quintana skipped over Triple-A, making the jump from Double-A to the majors last year.

The young starter doesn’t have overpowering stuff, with his fastball sitting in the low-90s. He’s struck out an average of 6.75 batters per nine innings, while he’s walked 13 in 45 1/3 innings this season. Quintana uses a four-seam fastball and a cutter that sits in the low-80s, as well as a sinker, curveball and changeup.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jose Iglesias

Shortstop Jose Iglesias collected his first extra-base hit in the month of May, slamming a solo homer — his career-high fourth of the year — in the bottom of the ninth for Triple-A Pawtucket. The homer snapped an 0-for-13 stretch. Iglesias now is hitting .160/.232/.220 in the month of May, with a .204/.263/.306 line on the season.

However, more significant was something that Iglesias did defensively — and outside the confines of the game. As reported by Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, Iglesias took grounders at third base on Monday prior to Pawtucket’s game, the first time in his career that he’s taken grounders at the position, with game exposure to the position expected to come soon — perhaps as soon as Tuesday in Pawtucket. MacPherson also reported that Iglesias has been taking grounders at second base, and that he will see game activity there once PawSox manager Gary DiSarcina is comfortable with the idea that Iglesias is comfortable with the double-play pivot from that angle.

DiSarcina suggested that the move is being made with an eye toward increasing Iglesias’ versatility so that he can serve as a source of depth at multiple positions. For instance, when Will Middlebrooks suffered his recent rib injury, it was Brock Holt — a player capable of playing third, short and second — who was on call to come up from the majors, with Iglesias not in position to offer utility depth. In exposing him to multiple positions, the Sox are laying the groundwork for the 23-year-old to have more roster value.

“He’s a shortstop,” DiSarcina told the Journal. “He’s going to be a major league shortstop. But the goal is just to give him a tool — not just for himself, but for the organization.”

Moreover, as MacPherson notes, increasing Iglesias’ versatility could allow the Sox to sidestep a potential bottleneck if the organization decides it wants to promote Xander Bogaerts to Triple-A. The ability to have both Iglesias and Bogaerts (who played some third in the WBC) play multiple positions would make it easier to get both players into the lineup.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 8-4 LOSS VS. INDIANAPOLIS (PIRATES)

(BOX)

– Jackie Bradley Jr. is heating up, at a time when outfielder Shane Victorino is once again contending with injuries. Bradley went 2-for-4 with a homer (his first of the season) and double. In three games back in the PawSox lineup, he’s now 4-for-11 with one of every kind of hit along with two walks and an HBP, good for a .364/.500/.909 line. Read the rest of this entry »

Shane Victorino

CHICAGO – After the Red Sox’ 6-4 loss Monday night, Shane Victorino was trying to come to grips with both a tight left hamstring and the frustration that comes with it.

Victorino surmised the hamstring injury that forced him from the game in the sixth inning wouldn’t be anything too serious. But the notion that it might not be a long-term issue did nothing to temper the uneasiness of dealing with yet another injury.

“It seems like if isn’t one thing, it’s another right now,” said Victorino, who had just returned from a sore back Sunday after missing two games. “They all say it’s all connected. That’s what’s frustrating for me. What is it? I just want to get back to being healthy and being out there and being a healthy player and feeling good. I don’t think this is anything serious, nor do the trainers. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”

Victorino said he has had no issues with his left hamstring, although he did go on the disabled list in 2011 with a right hamstring problem. He said the two aren’t comparable.

The right fielder didn’t feel any discomfort in the hamstring this time until running out an inning-ending fly ball off the bat of Dustin Pedroia. He had reached base by legging out an infield single.

“Going first to third on Pedroia’s deep fly ball, I just felt like my leg was, I felt something grab,” he said. “I tried to keep running, and it felt like my leg didn’t have the strength that it needed to have. I was trying to pull my leg up, and I felt a little something grab. I was a little worried, but after talking with the trainers and having them look at it, it’s to be determined right now. Obviously you can tell the frustration. I just want answers. I don’t know if it’s all connected. Again, just another bump in the road.”

Victorino actually took his place in right field for the home half of the sixth before Red Sox manager John Farrell and trainer Rick Jameyson jogged out to the position to remove the outfielder, moving Daniel Nava over to right field while putting Jonny Gomes in left.

“Given what he’s been dealing with, low back,” Farrell said, “I wasn’t going to take any chances in that situation.”

Said Victorino: “If I had to guess right now, I don’t really think this will be a really serious matter. But I don’t want to make it worse and miss a lot of time for no reason.”