Chris Sale injury update: Red Sox Lefty breaks pinky finger on drive, likely out at least 4-6 weeks

The Boston Red Sox He was hit hard during the end 13-2 loss to me New York Yankees On Sunday when left ace Chris Sall was forced off his start with a broken finger. Sal suffered the injury at the bottom of the first when a forward streak of Aaron Hicks’ racket hit him on the hand. The Red Sox later announced the injury as a fracture of the left fifth finger, or pinkie fracture.

Here’s a look at the play:

As you can see, Sal immediately walked off the field, his left pinky finger looking deformed. After the match, Sala told reporters, including Boston GlobeHe thinks he will miss 4-6 weeks. He will meet with a hand specialist either later on Sunday or Monday to determine a more accurate time frame for his recovery.

“I knew right away,” said sell Boston Globe. “The feeling of cold water rushing through your body when something like this happens.”

This was Sale’s second start to the 2022 season. He returned from a stress fracture in his rib cage, which he suffered late in spring training on July 12. inning. The score raised the ERA in Sale after two starts to 3.18. The 33-year-old is in the third year of a five-year, $145 million agreement with Boston.

The struggling Red Sox, who entered the rubber game on Sunday and lost five of their last six games and nine of their last 12, are already struggling with injury problems in the rotation. Currently, there are five novice shooters—Rich Hill, Conor Siebold, Michael Wacha, Josh Winkowski and James Paxton—on IL in Boston. The injury to Sale should speed up front-office efforts to obtain rotation assistance leading to the August 2 trading deadline, but the ownership commitment to investing in the roster has been missing for some time.