SEATTLE (AP) — Boston Red Sox left-hander Andrew Miller will have surgery on his injured left foot and likely miss the rest of the season.
Red Sox manager John Farrell said Monday that Miller has damage to the ligament in the foot, which he hurt while backing up a play at home plate Saturday at Anaheim.
“It’s unlikely he’ll be back this year,” Farrell said.
Miller flew back to Boston on Sunday and was examined Monday by the team’s foot specialist, Dr. George Theodore.
An MRI revealed the damage. No date for the surgery had been scheduled.
“It was when I tried to change momentum to go back up home,” Miller said after the game Saturday. “I watched the ball go by me, and when I went to push off to back up home plate, that’s when I felt it.”
Miller, in his second full season as a reliever for the Red Sox, had a 2.64 ERA while striking out 48 in 30 2/3 innings.
“The way he has pitched, the importance of that power left-hander, it is (a big loss),” Farrell said.
Farrell added that a change in Miller’s delivery, giving him a more consistent release point, had allowed him “to harness his above-average stuff. … He was well on his way to becoming a dominant left-handed reliever.”
To replace Miller on the roster, the Red Sox recalled right-hander Alfredo Aceves from Triple-A Pawtucket.