Betts sits, focuses on postseason health

NEW YORK — The rainy remnants of Hurricane Florence blew through the city Tuesday, delaying the opening game of the Red Sox-Yankees series by six hours and scuttling a return to the lineup for Mookie Betts.

The Boston outfielder left Sunday’s 4-3 victory over the Mets with left side soreness. Betts backed off on a throw to the plate from right field, unleashing a soft four-hopper instead of his usual clothesline to his intended receiver. Red Sox manager [...]

NEW YORK — The rainy remnants of Hurricane Florence blew through the city Tuesday, delaying the opening game of the Red Sox-Yankees series by six hours and scuttling a return to the lineup for Mookie Betts.

The Boston outfielder left Sunday’s 4-3 victory over the Mets with left side soreness. Betts backed off on a throw to the plate from right field, unleashing a soft four-hopper instead of his usual clothesline to his intended receiver. Red Sox manager Alex Cora was quick to emerge from the dugout and Betts grimaced a bit as he walked back to the home dugout at Fenway Park.

“My body didn’t really let me throw,” Betts said. “I guess it was kind of protecting itself. It turns out everything is good and I’ll be ready to go.”

It’s the second time Betts has battled an injury in that spot this season. He was placed on the disabled list in June with a left abdominal strain, and the obvious immediate fear in Boston was that Betts could be diminished entering the postseason in three weeks.

“It’s night and day,” Betts said. “I couldn’t really swing or do anything back then. Hitting is absolutely fine. Throwing is still fine — it’s just the max-effort throw.”

“I think the weather kind of pushed me to not play him today,” Cora said. “He was supposed to play center field today. As of 9 in the morning, that was my lineup.”

Betts is among the front-runners for the American League Most Valuable Player award, slashing .337/.431/.619 out of the leadoff spot. He has posted a fourth straight season of at least 40 doubles and is just one home run and two stolen bases shy of entering the 30-30 club for the first time. Betts has been the catalyst for a Red Sox attack that leads the big leagues in runs scored, slugging percentage, extra-base hits and several other categories.

“I need to be fully healthy for that postseason and to win the World Series,” Betts said. “I’ve had a good year so far. Those things are pretty cool, but I think the most important thing is to win a World Series and be here for the team.”

It’s worth wondering just how long Betts has been battling the injury. He’s homered only twice in his last 33 games after cracking 27 in his first 96 games. Betts has still posted a fine .876 OPS in that span, but that’s well below his season tally of 1.049.

“He needs his at-bats,” Cora said. “He’s the first one that will tell you that. Today, the decision was made because of the weather. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll see what happens tonight first, and then we’ll see what we do.”

Boston employed a heavily right-handed lineup against New York left-hander J.A. Happ. Jackie Bradley Jr. was the only left-handed hitter in Cora’s first draft, scheduled to patrol Yankee Stadium’s expansive left field. Cora might have had the upcoming postseason in mind with that outfield alignment, as the chance exists the Red Sox and Yankees could lock up in the best-of-five A.L. Division Series.

“The big left field here, we talked about it in spring training,” Cora said. “Depending on the lineup, we were going to maximize Jackie’s defensive abilities and Mookie’s, too. J.D. [Martinez] was going to play right with [Steve] Pearce at first and Brandon [Phillips] at third.”

— bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25