OAKLAND, Calif. — Steven Wright was summoned into a closed-door meeting with Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and manager John Farrell on Saturday afternoon. He emerged with a grim look on his face.
The All-Star righthander will miss his start on Tuesday against San Diego and will soon get a second opinion on his injured right shoulder. His return this season is not guaranteed.
Wright was injured on Aug. 6 when he was used as a pinch runner and jarred his shoulder diving back to second base on a faked pickoff throw. The knuckleballer spent 20 days on the disabled list and in two starts since has allowed nine runs on 14 hits over 10 innings.
“It’s OK; it’s not great. Trying to throw through a lot of the pain and the discomfort and it’s not getting better,’’ Wright said.
“It just got to a point where I’m not helping going out there at 50 percent. The last two games I didn’t have the same effectiveness with my knuckleball. I had some pain throwing.’’
Clay Buchholz is lined up to replace Wright. He had a 2.70 earned run average in three starts last month. Going back to the All-Star break, Buchholz has a 3.41 ERA.
“He’s been invaluable,’’ Farrell said.
Wright, who is 13-6 with a 3.33 ERA, hopes to see a specialist in the Los Angeles area in the coming days. His original MRI showed inflammation but no structural damage.
“It just got to a point where it wasn’t getting any better,’’ Wright said. “It was so hard for me to throw a pitch with conviction because every time I did throw it the way that I did I did pre-injury, it would hurt. I felt I was up there basically throwing batting practice.’’
A cortisone shot could help.
“We’ll see what kind of cards we can play,’’ Wright said.
Wright threw 95 and 84 pitches in his last two starts, a positive sign. But he couldn’t throw his knuckleball with its usual action.
“He doesn’t feel quite right,’’ said Farrell, who has taken criticism from fans and media for using one of his best pitchers as a pinch runner.
The loss of Wright would be significant. Starting on Friday, the Sox play all of their remaining games against American League East teams. Wright has a 2.72 ERA in eight starts against division foes and has been especially effective against first-place Toronto, allowing three earned runs over 17⅔ innings.
“It’s hard. But it’s one of those things you have to take day-by-day. I don’t want to over-think it. But when it’s your shoulder it’s hard not to over-think it,’’ he said.
Uehara nears return
Koji Uehara was on the field 4½ hours before the Sox played the Oakland Athletics, throwing live batting practice to teammates Marco Hernandez and Deven Marrero.
Over a stretch of 26 pitches, Uehara produced an assortment of awkward swings and pronounced himself ready to come off the disabled list. He has been out since July 19 with a strained pectoral muscle.
“It’s really up to the team right now,’’ Uehara said via translator C.J. Matsumoto, “I feel 100 percent.’’
Farrell, who closely watched Uehara, seemed to agree.
“He was aggressive. There was good action to both his fastball and his split. Threw some cutters in there as well,’’ Farrell said. “Provided he comes in [Sunday] and goes through his normal workday, we could see an activation for Koji in the coming days.’’
That would likely be Monday in San Diego. The 41-year-old Uehara is confident he will be sharp upon returning.
“There’s no worrying about that part,’’ he said. “I’ve been playing this game for a long time.’’
Farrell said Uehara would ideally get a few low-pressure situations at first. Given his abilities and experience as a closer, Uehara could help solve the team’s problem of finding a reliable set-up man for closer Craig Kimbrel.
“The way he’s advanced in the last 10 days has been extremely encouraging,’’ Farrell said.
Kelly optimisticThe Red Sox were up by 13 runs when Joe Kelly came in to pitch the eighth inning on Friday night. But the righthander did strike out two of the four batters he faced in his first major league appearance since July 30.
Kelly hit 99 miles per hour with his fastball three times and was able to throw his curveball for strikes. It was a glimpse of the talent that has intrigued the Sox for several years but never amounted to much on the field.
Kelly has a 4.93 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 45 appearances for the Sox since being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014. He has spent most of this season on the disabled list or with Triple A Pawtucket.
Being demoted was something Kelly seemed to take in stride.
“Can’t really do much about it. You’ve just got to throw the ball as well as you can and pitch whenever you’re called on. I just took it and went out there and kept throwing.’’
Kelly had a 0.56 ERA in 13 relief appearances for Pawtucket. He struck out 25 over 16 innings and walked two. Of greater importance was that he developed an effective pregame routine that kept him available over multiple days.
“It’s been a lot easier since I’ve gotten the hang of it,’’ he said. “There’s been times where I’ve had to get loose in two hitters. Throw seven fastballs, two off-speed pitches and tell them I’m ready to go. I’ve dealt with that and in the beginning I wasn’t able to do that.’’
Kelly also cut back on his pregame throwing.
“Trying to learn the role of the bullpen as best I could,’’ he said. “I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of a challenge.’’
Farrell played down the notion that Kelly would offer immediate help to the team’s late-inning bullpen woes.
“That would be dependent upon who’s available on a given day,’’ he said. “Certainly not going to rule it out at this point.’’
Dombrowski was more optimistic.
“We think Joe Kelly coming up here can help,’’ he said.
Versatility for Shaw
Travis Shaw was on the bench at the start of Saturday’s game as Yoan Moncada started at third base. Farrell said the Sox would consider using Shaw in left field. He has limited experience there but the coaching staff feels he could handle the position . . . The Red Sox will add three players to the roster before Sunday’s series finale against the A’s. Righthanded relievers Heath Hembree and Noe Ramirez and catcher Christian Vazquez will be promoted from Pawtucket . . . Andrew Benintendi did some more jogging and stood in the outfield for batting practice. He is at least 10 days away from returning from a sprained left knee.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.
