Red Sox place struggling reliever Liam Hendriks on IL
Struggling Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks has been placed on the 15-day Injured List, the team announced Friday. Hendriks is on the shelf with right hip inflammation, with his move to the IL retroactive to May 28.
The 36-year-old righty has had some struggles out of the Boston bullpen in his first MLB season since 2023, posting a 6.59 ERA and 1.39 WHIP over 14 appearances. Hendriks has pitched 13.2 innings in those appearances, and is coming off a three rough outings over the last two weeks.
A former All-Star closer, Hendriks was looking to bounce back with Boston after he overcame non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2023 and was sidelined for the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Liam Hendriks' struggles with Red Sox
Hendriks gave up a pair of runs off three hits to the Chicago White Sox in his first stint out of the Boston bullpen back on April 20, but went on to toss nine shutout innings over his next eight appearances. He struck out seven over that span while allowing just four hits.
That solid run ended on May 16, when Hendriks was tagged for two runs in the top of the ninth in a 4-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. He faced four batters that night and walked two of them, and both scored when Brennan Bernardino issued back-to-back bases loaded walks after replacing Hendriks.
Hendriks didn't come out of the bullpen for another five days, when he was tagged with the loss against the New York Mets on May 21. He finished off the sixth inning of a 1-1 game after Garrett Crochet was lifted after just 85 pitches (an effort to keep the ace's workload in check this season), but then Hendriks gave up three straight singles when he went back out for the seventh inning. Bernardino again replaced Hendriks, and let two of his inherited runners score. The Mets won 5-1, and it was after that loss that Hendriks said he and his family received death threats on social media.
He had a pair of scoreless outings against the Orioles last weekend, but Hendriks was hit with his second loss of the season Tuesday night when he gave up a walk-off Grand Slam to Milwaukee's Christian Yelich in the 10th inning.
Red Sox call up Nick Burdi
The Red Sox are replacing Hendriks on the roster with 32-year-old right-hander Nick Burdi, who has given up four hits and a walk over 2.1 scoreless innings for Boston this season. He's been lights out for the Worcester Red Sox in Triple-A, sporting a 4-0 record with four saves and a 0.48 ERA and 0.804 WHIP over 15 appearances. Burdi has fanned 26 batters to just four walks in 18.2 innings for the WooSox.
Burdi has appeared in 33 games at the MLB level over his six-year career for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, and Red Sox. Last season for New York, Burdi posted a 1.86 ERA over 12 appearances.
The 27-31 Red Sox start a three-game series with the Braves in Atlanta on Friday night.
