Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale on Monday underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured finger on this throwing hand, the club announced. The procedure was an "open reduction and internal fixation of a left fifth finger proximal phalanx fracture" and was performed at the Newton-Wellesley Outpatient Surgery Center in Wellesley, MA. One member of the organization told Chris Cotillo that it's possible Sale could pitch again this season.
Sale suffered the injury on Sunday during an eventual 13-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday when a line drive off the bat of Aaron Hicks struck him on the hand. The Red Sox later announced the injury as a left fifth finger fracture, or pinkie fracture.
Here's a look at the play:
"I knew immediately," Sale told the Boston Globe. "The feeling of cold water rushing through your body when something like that happens."
This was just Sale's second start of the 2022 season. He returned from a stress fracture in his rib cage, which he suffered late in spring training on July 12. On Sunday, Sale, who was replaced by Hirokazu Sawamura following the injury, allowed three runs (two earned) in just 2/3 of an inning. The outcome raised Sale's ERA after two starts to 3.18. The 33-year-old is in the third year of a five-year, $145 million pact with Boston.
The struggling Red Sox, who came into Sunday's rubber match having lost five of their last six and nine of their last 12, are already afflicted by injury problems in the rotation. At present, five starting pitchers -- Rich Hill, Connor Seabold, Michael Wacha, Josh Winckowski and James Paxton -- are on the IL for Boston. The injury to Sale will presumably hasten the front office's effort to acquire rotation help leading up to the Aug. 2 trade deadline, but ownership's commitment to investing in the roster has been lacking for some time.
