Before kicking off their four-game series against the Texas Rangers on Monday, the Red Sox swapped a pair of left-handed bullpen arms, with southpaw Bobby Poyner being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket and fellow lefty Josh Taylor being optioned to the PawSox in a corresponding move. The club made the transaction official earlier Monday.
Poyner rejoins Boston after spending less than a week with the big league club back in April, where he allowed a total of two runs on three hits and two walks over two relief appearances and one inning pitched.
With Triple-A Pawtucket this season, the 26-year-old has appeared in 20 games, posting an ERA of 3.91 and a batting average against of .247 while striking out 32 hitters over 25.1 total innings of work.
Eight of Poyner’s last 10 relief outings have been scoreless, and he last pitched on June 8th.
Taylor, meanwhile, will rejoin the PawSox after spending nearly two full weeks with Boston.
In five appearances with the big league club going back to the 29th of May, the undrafted 26-year-old surrendered six earned runs, four of which came in Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, on 12 hits, no walks, and six strikeouts over a total of five innings of relief. That’s good for a 10.80 ERA, although his FIP was only 3.35.
While with Pawtucket this season, Taylor’s numbers look much better, as he has limited the opposition to a .234 batting average to go along with an ERA of 2.91 through 19 games and 21.2 innings.
With Brian Johnson still on the injured list but working his way back, Poyner is the only left-handed option the Red Sox have out of their bullpen for the time being.
The Red Sox also announced that the start time for Wednesday’s game against the Rangers has been moved from 7:10 PM to 4:05 PM EDT to accommodate Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins, which is set to begin at TD Garden shortly after 8 PM EDT that night.
Let’s also remember to keep David Ortiz in our thoughts and prayers.
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