Red Sox Starter Leaves Game After Five Pitches on Sunday

As the Boston Red Sox are fighting for a playoff berth in the dog days of summer, they were dealt a bad break on Sunday.

In the first inning against the Houston Astros on Sunday, Yordan Alvarez rolled over on a ground ball to first base. As pitcher James Paxton attempted to cover first base, he appeared to come up lame with a lower-body injury.

Manager Alex Cora and the training staff checked on Paxton, who was forced to exit after only five pitches. Lucas Sims replaced Paxton on the mound.

The Red Sox needed Paxton to eat up some innings on Sunday, as Saturday's 5-4 loss to Houston was a bullpen game, with Josh Winckowski and Brad Keller going four and three innings, respectively. The Red Sox called on eight different relievers through the first two games of the series against the Astros.

Paxton was reunited with Boston in a trade on July 26 after he was surprisingly designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sunday was the southpaw's third start back with the Sox. In 20 starts this season, Paxton is 9-3 with a 4.42 ERA.

Boston's pitching staff has struggled coming out of the All-Star break, especially struggling to keep the ball in the yard. The Red Sox have given up the most home runs of any staff in the bigs during that stretch. Paxton's injury is the last thing that this staff needed.

Hopefully, Paxton is healthy enough to make his next start. Sox fans will be anxiously awaiting an injury update.

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