ATLANTA -- Liam Hendriks, who has been frustrated by his performance and his undefined role in Boston’s bullpen, now has another problem to deal with.
The veteran righty was placed on the 15-day injured list on Friday -- retroactive to May 28 -- with right hip inflammation.
To replace Hendriks on the roster, righty Nick Burdi was recalled from Triple-A Worcester.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated that Hendriks has been grinding through the injury for a while.
“I don’t want to call it a sports hernia, but it's kind of like the symptoms of having that,” said Cora. “He grinded through it for a few weeks, and after the last one, he felt like he couldn't grind through it anymore. So after that, we put him on the IL and hopefully we can take care of him right away and he can come back as soon as possible.”
In his most recent outing on Tuesday, Hendriks gave up a walk-off grand slam to Christian Yelich in Milwaukee.
In 14 appearances this season, Hendriks has a 6.59 ERA, though hitters are hitting just .235 off him with a .692 OPS.
Cora appreciated that Hendriks kept taking the ball and didn’t complain about his injury.
“Shoot, for him to be able to compete, that means a lot,” Cora said.
The 36-year-old Hendriks arrived at Spring Training as a slight favorite to win the closer’s role. But lefty Aroldis Chapman won that competition in convincing fashion and Hendriks had to go on the injured list just hours before the first pitch of Opening Day with right elbow inflammation. He was activated on April 19, but wasn’t able to get into a groove.
“Obviously, we want him healthy,” Cora said. “Just go out there and get healthy and see how it goes. But right now, this is the smart thing to do. And like I said, hopefully we can get him sooner rather than later.”