PHOENIX — Brock Holt’s difficult start to the season at the plate can be somewhat attributed to a child. Holt was placed on the 10-day injured list before the Red Sox’ game on Saturday with a scratched cornea in his right eye, an injury he sustained before the Opening Day game, when he picked up his 2-year-old son, Griffin, and took a fingernail in the eye. “I went and got Griff up out of bed, was bringing him back to our bed, and one of his fingernails got me good,” Holt said. “I thought at the time it just poked me in the eye, but the first two days in Seattle were rough. I was wearing sunglasses inside. I couldn’t open my right eye. Obviously I needed to go see an eye doctor. Went to see someone in Seattle. I put a contact lens in it to protect the scratch. Every time I was blinking, it was rubbing, making my eye water. Couldn’t really see out of my right eye. Gave me some drops, started clearing up, but my right eye was still pretty blurry in Seattle.” Holt’s son became somewhat of an internet sensation as he’s often seen in social media photos wearing his signature glasses. Holt said his son is more often recognized than he is when the family goes out to eat in Boston. “It’s not funny, but it is funny,” Holt said. “He walks around and tells everyone he poked me in the eye. Being a dad, he got me. It’s something I thought I could play through and still be able to do my job, but the vision in my right eye is really different. It was obviously affecting me on the field. I don’t want to be out there if I can’t help us.” Holt didn’t play the first two games in Seattle, then went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts in his first start of the year in Game 3. Without clear vision in his right eye, Holt has had a difficult time picking up the ball at the plate. He’s just 1-for-16 with seven strikeouts to start the year. He’s still played well on defense, making a game-saving on-the-run throw from shortstop in Oakland and a few nice plays at second, though he did miss a line drive off his glove Friday in Arizona. “I can see, but there’s still a little blurry spot in my right eye,” he said. “I wasn’t able to pick up spin. I wasn’t able to do anything in the box. Yesterday, I decided, ‘Hey, I think I might need to see another eye doctor here or do something.’” The Red Sox called up Tzu-Wei Lin from Triple-A Pawtucket to replace Holt on the active roster. The eye doctor told Holt this type of injury can vary in recovery time and he’s unsure how long he’ll miss. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia is still an option for Opening Day at Fenway Park on Tuesday. He played five innings with Single-A Greenville Friday after playing nine on Thursday. He’ll play nine Sunday and if he feels good, could be activated in time for Tuesday’s game. Sunday starter revealed Hector Velazquez will get the start on the mound in the series finale Sunday afternoon against the Diamondbacks. Brian Johnson was originally in line for the start, but Johnson was needed out of the bullpen early in Friday’s 15-8 loss and suffered an elbow injury while giving up seven runs in 1-⅓ innings. After touching 92 mph during his impressive relief appearances in Seattle, Johnson’s velocity dipped on Friday night. He was placed on the 10-day injured list with elbow inflammation on Saturday. “I didn’t feel right on the mound yesterday, just didn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “It was a curveball I threw. It was more of a one-pitch thing and I just kept going. “I just felt like I couldn’t really finish. I ultimately knew I needed to stay out there. Probably now looking back they would probably advise me to call somebody out. But at that point I felt like I could save some arms.” Johnson has no idea how long he’ll be out of action and said there has been no testing done on his arm. Right-hander Marcus Walden was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to take his place on the roster. Walden made the team out of spring last year, though he pitched just 14-⅔ innings with a 3.68 ERA with the big league club, spending most of the year in the minors. Position players pitching When manager Alex Cora approached Eduardo Nunez about pitching in the eighth inning of a blowout loss on Friday, he did it with a bit of jealousy. Cora never got to make a relief appearance during his big league career. “I always wanted to do that,” Cora said. “At one point in my career we were in Baltimore in 2008 and Tito asked me to go to the bullpen and get ready and I was like, ‘yeah, I can do this.’ I went to the bullpen to get ready and I think David Ortiz hit a home run, so instead of being down seven we were down five. Tito felt like we were down five, we had a shot. I wasn’t able to come in. “It wasn’t fun in a sense, but you know what, let’s make the best out of it. It’s not the first team that’s done it, not going to be the last team. Hopefully we don’t have to do it again.” Why Nunez instead of Mitch Moreland, who pitched in college, or catcher Christian Vazquez, who has a strong arm? “Mitch fouled a ball off his knee the other day so I didn’t feel comfortable putting him out there,” Cora said. “I knew about the Brock situation. It’s like we were running out of position players, too. Christian was the other option but he had surgery a couple years ago so I’m not going to go that route. “Eduardo is a team player. He understood why. It was funny. Now we can laugh. That 2-2 count he wanted to throw a slider. He said Blake Swihart didn’t call it so he went with a fastball. He gives a home run so he comes in the dugout and he’s like, ‘Blake, why did you call a fastball?’ He’s a pro.” Travel not an excuse The Red Sox aren’t using travel as an excuse for their bad start, despite going from Florida to Arizona to finish spring training, then to Seattle to begin an 11-game West Coast trip to start the year. “Seattle went to Japan and they’re, what, 8-1?” Cora said. “This is the big leagues. We don’t travel in middle seats. We don’t stay in motels. The way they treat us in the clubhouse is five stars. It’s what the schedule says. It’s 11 games in a row on the road. But we’re not making excuses. We just aren’t playing well.” What is Cora telling his team right now? “Show up, keep showing up,” he said. “Don’t forget about this. We’re going to get to a point that we play good baseball. Hopefully it starts today. Just talking to the guys, we’re going to start playing better. We’re going to be the team everybody feels we’re supposed to be. We’re going to look back like, ‘you know what, it wasn’t fun in the beginning but you look back and you learn from it and move on.’ “The joy and having fun, it’s amazing how many texts I’ve gotten in the last two days. My brother texted me today, ‘don’t forget it’s a game, keep having fun.’ I’m like, ‘Joey, we’re good, relax.’ It’s always cool that people are so worried about us. That’s part of the process. I keep telling the guys, we’re going to be fine. We’re going to play good baseball. We’ll look back at this road trip and be like, ‘wow, we were that bad.’”<doc-sep>Christian Petersen/Getty Images Boston Red Sox utility man Brock Holt has a unique cause for heading to the injured list. "It was actually a play at the hotel," Holt told reporters. "It was the morning of Opening Day. I went and got Griff up out of bed, and was bringing him back to our bed, and one of his fingernails got me good." He is now going to the IL for at least 10 days for what was called a "right eye scratched cornea," per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. "It’s not funny, but it is funny," Holt added. "(Griffin) walks around and tells everyone he poked me in the eye." While his son is just two years old, it apparently caused significant damage. The player reportedly couldn't open his eye regularly and had to wear sunglasses inside over the first two days after the injury. The 30-year-old clearly tried to play through the injury, which came on March 28. Unfortunately, he struggled on the field, going 1-of-16 with seven strikeouts to start the year. This is a far cry from the .277 batting average and .362 on-base percentage Holt provided last season while helping the Red Sox win a World Series. Video Play Button Videos you might like Boston will miss his versatility when he is out, as Holt has proved he can play myriad positions on the field. The veteran started games at six different positions plus designated hitter last season and already appeared at both second base and shortstop in 2019. Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers should see more consistent playing time while Holt is out.<doc-sep>
Red Sox fan favorite Brock Holt has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a scratched cornea in his right eye, according to President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski.The 30-year-old utility player has gone 1-for-16 at the plate in six games for the Red Sox in 2019, making four starts at second base and one at shortstop.Dombrowski did not say how Holt suffered the injury.The team also placed left-handed pitcher Brian Johnson on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. The 28-year-old has pitched in four games, all in relief, for Boston this season. He was the winning pitcher in the Red Sox's first victory of the season and has a 12.71 earned run average and seven strikeouts.Dombrowski said the team has recalled utility player Tzu-Wei Lin and right-handed pitcher Marcus Walden from Triple-A Pawtucket.Lin, 25, was Pawtucket's starting shortstop and leadoff hitter in the club's opening day game at Syracuse on April 4, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base. The left-handed hitter has appeared in 62 games for Boston over the last two seasons.Walden, 30, made one appearance for the PawSox, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings April 4 against Syracuse. Over three stints with the Red Sox in 2018, Walden posted a 3.68 ERA with 14 strikeouts in eight relief appearances. Red Sox fan favorite Brock Holt has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a scratched cornea in his right eye, according to President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski. The 30-year-old utility player has gone 1-for-16 at the plate in six games for the Red Sox in 2019, making four starts at second base and one at shortstop. Dombrowski did not say how Holt suffered the injury. The team also placed left-handed pitcher Brian Johnson on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. The 28-year-old has pitched in four games, all in relief, for Boston this season. He was the winning pitcher in the Red Sox's first victory of the season and has a 12.71 earned run average and seven strikeouts. Dombrowski said the team has recalled utility player Tzu-Wei Lin and right-handed pitcher Marcus Walden from Triple-A Pawtucket. Lin, 25, was Pawtucket's starting shortstop and leadoff hitter in the club's opening day game at Syracuse on April 4, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base. The left-handed hitter has appeared in 62 games for Boston over the last two seasons. Walden, 30, made one appearance for the PawSox, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings April 4 against Syracuse. Over three stints with the Red Sox in 2018, Walden posted a 3.68 ERA with 14 strikeouts in eight relief appearances.