Red Sox place Sonny Gray on injured list, recall Tyler Samaniego from Worcester

Sonny Gray’s right hamstring strain sent Boston back to its depth chart, and Tyler Samaniego was the latest Worcester arm asked to bridge the gap. The Red Sox placed Gray on the 15-day injured list on April 21 after he left his April 20 start against the Detroit Tigers in the top of the third inning, after just 2.2 innings, with tightness in the hamstring.

The club said Gray is expected back in early to mid-May, but the move immediately exposed how fragile the staff has become. Boston has also been navigating recent pitching injuries to Justin Slaten and Johan Oviedo, with other arms already on the injured list, leaving less margin for error every time a starter departs early or a bullpen night runs long. Gray, 36, was acquired in a December 2025 trade, and his absence now forces the Red Sox to lean even harder on matchup innings and short relief work.

Samaniego’s recall from Triple-A Worcester fits that need more than it changes the rotation picture. The 27-year-old left-hander, listed at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 15th round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of South Alabama. He made his major league debut on April 8, then was optioned back to Worcester on April 14 before getting this latest call. In three MLB appearances this season, he has already shown why Boston keeps turning back to him: he gives the staff another left-handed option and another pitcher who can absorb lower-leverage innings without forcing higher-leverage relievers into overwork.

That is the realistic job here. Samaniego is not being summoned to replace Gray’s workload or mimic a veteran starter’s impact; he is being asked to stabilize the middle innings while Boston waits out a strained hamstring and tries to keep the rest of the staff from unraveling. In a stretch where one injury feeds the next roster move, a Worcester left-hander with recent big league experience suddenly becomes part of the solution.