Wright and Velazquez switch spots on Red Sox roster

BOSTON — Indeed, truth is stranger than fiction, especially in baseball.

In one of those "Imagine Seeing You Here" coincidences, the Red Sox placed swing man pitcher Hector Velazquez on the disabled list on Monday just as swing man pitcher Steven Wright was set to rejoin the team.

Wright began the season on the disabled list recovering from left knee surgery, then went to the restricted list for 15 games for violating [...]

BOSTON — Indeed, truth is stranger than fiction, especially in baseball.

In one of those “Imagine Seeing You Here” coincidences, the Red Sox placed swing man pitcher Hector Velazquez on the disabled list on Monday just as swing man pitcher Steven Wright was set to rejoin the team.

Wright began the season on the disabled list recovering from left knee surgery, then went to the restricted list for 15 games for violating baseball’s domestic violence policy last winter. In between, Wright worked in four games for the Pawtucket Red Sox and had a 4.30 ERA with three walks and eight strikeouts.

The knuckleballer, 33, is 21-14 with a 3.97 earned run average in 55 career appearances with Boston, 15 of them in relief.

“The policy is there and I messed it up,” he said of the suspension. “It was my wrongdoing and now I’m happy to have it behind me.”

Wright will be used as a reliever, at least at first.

“Our catchers are comfortable with him coming in in the middle of game,” manager Alex Cora said. “From everything I’ve heard and seen in the past, when he’s good he’s really, really good. He can be a game-changer.

“We can use him for more than three outs, or we can use him to get three big outs in one game. As of now, we’ll probably use him in multiple innings; maybe he can help us reset the bullpen. Everybody knows he’s capable to start.”

Velazquez has been diagnosed with a lower back strain. He is tied with Rick Porcello for the best record on the team at 5-0 but has a better ERA at 2.10. Velazaquez got the win in Boston’s 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday, working two innings of relief.

“It’s been going for a while,” Cora said of the injury. “That’s why we tried to stay away from him since Texas. After his second inning (on Sunday), he came in and talked to me about it and actually I wanted him to get three more (outs). He was honest and that was great.”

Wright’s last major-league appearance was more than a year ago, on April 29, 2017. He was 1-3 with an 8.25 ERA in five starts, four of them awful. Wright is 17-14 as a starting pitcher, 4-0 as a reliever. He last pitched out of the pen in 2015 and his longest relief appearance lasted 5 2/3 innings, and 110 pitches on May 12, 2015.

“It’s been amazing watching these guys,” Wright said. “I just want to come here and not screw things up.”

“It feels pretty good,” he added. “The first time I went out there it felt foreign, but every time I went out I felt I was able to stay more around the zone and change speeds. Every time I’ve gone out there in the past couple of weeks it’s felt better.”

Boston’s most comparable pitcher from the past, Tim Wakefield, was also used as a starter and reliever and hated coming out of the bullpen. He was also used as closer, which will not happen with Wright.

As a rookie manager, Cora is embarking on something new as he handles a knuckleballer.

“The only experience I have was with (Wakefield),” he said, referring to his time as a Red Sox player. “Some times (the knuckler) was great, and sometimes it wasn’t too great.”

That just about covers all the possibilities.

The new manager will be relying a lot on pitching coach Dana LeVangie’s expertise.

“His input is going to be very important,” Cora said. “His input is always important anyway. What he sees is hopefully what I feel.”

History says that knuckleball pitchers ride waves. Wakefield did and in the long run, the surf was up more than it was down, and he wound up with 200 career wins. Wright has had one great season — 2015, when he was 13-6 and an All-Star — and has otherwise been a .500 pitcher.

The Red Sox are hoping he can restart his career and Cora hopes he can reset the bullpen.