BOSTON — An MRI revealed Red Sox starter James Paxton suffered a Grade 2 lat tear during his first rehab outing Aug. 18 in the Florida Complex League.
Paxton, who has spent nearly 16 months rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, will not pitch at all in 2022.
The lefty was removed after just two batters during his FCL rehab start last week.
“It’s hard because I saw the progress. I saw the stuff and we know the player,” Manager Alex Cora said at Fenway Park on Thursday. “And when he’s healthy, he’s really good. The angle and the cutter and all that. He’s disappointed but there’s nothing he can do about it.”
Paxton initially hoped to return before the All-Star break. But he then suffered posterior elbow soreness in early May and was shut down from throwing for a few weeks. He resumed his throwing program in late May,
“The fact that he was going to throw the 2 or 3 innings that day, it was like, ‘OK. He might be here in September,’” Cora said. “It’s disappointing but like I’ve always said in these cases, it’s more about the person. I can’t even imagine just going through the whole process and this is what happens. But he’s in good spirits. He’ll be OK. He’ll pitch at the big league level at one point. He will and he’s going to be dominating.”
The Red Sox signed Paxton last offseason to a one-year, $10-million contract with two option years.
Boston has to decide whether to exercise both option years worth $26 million simultaneously when this coming offseason begins. If the Red Sox decline it, Paxton has the ability to opt in for one year, $4 million.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Cora said. “We saw the guy making progress and getting to the point that he was actually getting to throw real games and that happened. As far as his arm and all that, we were very excited about it. Now it’s just see what we decide and what he decides. So we’ll get there when we get there.”
PHILLIES: Reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper is set to start for the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, just two months after having his left thumb broken by a pitch.
Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson announced Harper’s impending return from the injured list Thursday after consulting with the star.
Harper hit two home runs and a game-winning double in a two-game rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. His minor league stint was originally expected to last a few games longer.
Harper took off Thursday to recover from some soreness, but is set to be the designated hitter when the Phillies host Pittsburgh to start of a three-game weekend series.
The two-time NL MVP was hitting .318 with 15 homers and 48 RBI when the thumb was broken by a fastball from San Diego’s Blake Snell on June 25.
Since his departure, Philadelphia has climbed into the second wild-card position in the National League with a 30-20 record without him.
• Zack Wheeler was put on the 15-day injured list with right forearm tendinitis,.
Wheeler, 32, is 11-7 with a 3.07 ERA in 23 starts. The right-hander finished second in the NL Cy Young Award race behind Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes last year after throwing the most innings in the majors at 213 1/3.
In his last outing on Saturday, Wheeler hit 97 mph on the radar gun, but struggled with command in 5 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs and threw 106 pitches in an 8-2 loss to the New York Mets, his former team.
ANGELS: First baseman Jared Walsh was placed on the 10-day injured list due to thoracic outlet syndrome on his left side.
Walsh has struggled this season offensively, hitting .215 with 15 homers and 44 RBI in 118 games.
Angels head athletic trainer Mike Frostad said before Los Angeles played at Tampa Bay that it has not been determined yet if Walsh will require surgery or could play again this season.
In other roster moves, the Angels selected first baseman Mike Ford from Triple-A Salt Lake, recalled catcher Matt Thiass and designated infielder Phil Gosselin for assignment.
Outfielder Mike Trout, who returned last Friday after missing 28 games with an upper back/ribs injury, had a scheduled day off Thursday. Los Angeles played its fourth game in a stretch of seven straight on artificial turf.
YANKEES: Nestor Cortes is heading to the injured list with a groin injury.
The Yankees are expected to bring up Triple-A closer Greg Weissert to take his roster spot.
Cortes has posted a 2.68 ERA and has a strong strikeout (25.9%) and walk rate (5.8%).
THURSDAY’S GAMES
RAYS 8, ANGELS 3: Drew Rasmussen won his third consecutive start, Manuel Margot got four hits and Tampa Bay beat visiting Los Angeles to complete a four-game sweep.
The Angels lost their sixth in a row.
Rasmussen (9-4), who took a perfect game into the ninth inning and a no-hitter into the sixth in his previous two starts, gave up one run, six hits and struck out nine over 5 1 /3 innings.
CARDINALS 8, CUBS 3: Paul Goldschmidt slugged his 32nd and 33rd homers to highlight a five-RBI performance, Corey Dickerson set a franchise record for consecutive hits and St. Louis won at Chicago.
Goldschmidt, Dickerson and Tommy Edman collected three hits apiece as the NL Central-leading Cardinals won for the 10th time in their last 12 games and concluded a 6-2 trip.
The Cubs lost for the fourth time in six games.
The Cardinals collected 16 hits even without slugger Nolan Arenado, who returned to St. Louis to attend the birth of his first child.
Dickerson set a franchise record with 10 hits in 10 consecutive plate appearances in the post-1961 expansion era dating to his first of two consecutive four-hit games in the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Dickerson sparked a three-run first inning with an RBI single – for his ninth consecutive hit, breaking the previous mark of eight held by Curt Flood (1964, 1968), Felix Jose (1991) and Fernando Tatis (1998). Dickerson also had a single to start the third but was left stranded.
MARINERS 3, GUARDIANS 1: Mitch Haniger hit a three-run home run in the first inning, Marco Gonzales tossed six strong innings and Seattle won at home.
Julio Rodriguez walked to open the game and Jesse Winker singled before Haniger stayed hot at the plate, taking Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie deep to left-center field.
Haniger has homered in three of the past four games and is hitting .313 in 17 games since coming off the injured list.
PHILLIES 4, REDS 0: Aaron Nola struck out 11 and allowed just five hits in his second career nine-inning shutout as Philadelphia closed out a four-game sweep of visiting Cincinnati.
Edmundo Sosa had three RBI from the ninth spot in the lineup, and Kyle Schwarber hit his National League-leading 35th homer of the season, moving him two ahead of Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals.
METS 3, ROCKIES 1: Jacob deGrom struck out nine over six innings of one-run ball, leading New York over visiting Colorado.
Pete Alonso hit his 31st homer off the advertising signage in left field during a three-run third. The Mets increased their NL East lead over the idle Atlanta Braves to two games.
DeGrom (3-1) retired the first 13 batters, eventually allowing three hits and walking one. He has a 2.15 ERA and has struck out 46, walking just two in 29 1/3 innings spanning five starts since his return from elbow and scapula injuries.
DeGrom was perfect until Jose Iglesias had an infield single with one out in the fifth. Randal Grichuk followed with a double down the third-base line but deGrom struck out Sam Hilliard and got Brian Serven to line out to right.
ORIOLES 4, WHITE SOX 3: Kyle Stowers hit his first major league homer to tie the game with Baltimore down to its last strike, and the Orioles went on to a victory over visiting Chicago in 11 innings.
Anthony Santander won it with an RBI single, but it was Stowers who saved it for Baltimore in the ninth. The 24-year-old outfielder, playing in his seventh career game, sent an 0-2 pitch from Liam Hendriks over the wall in right-center field. Hendriks had converted 19 save chances in a row before that.
ASTROS 6, TWINS 3: Trey Mancini homered for a second straight game, a three-run shot that led host Houston to a three-game sweep of slumping Minnesota.
Mancini, who hit a two-run homer Wednesday, has six home runs and 16 RBI in 18 games since being traded from the Orioles.
The Twins have lost a season-high six games and finished 0-6 against the AL West-leading Astros this season.
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