Boston Red Sox Lose Big Piece to Injury on Friday

The Red Sox announced that 1B/DH Justin Turner left Friday's game against the San Diego Padres with left knee soreness.

The Boston Red Sox are holding their breath on Friday night as key contributor Justin Turner left the game with left knee soreness.

#RedSox report that Justin Turner left the game with left knee soreness.

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 20, 2023

Turner started the game at first base on Friday, which was notable. Against left-hander Blake Snell, the team elected to leave Triston Casas on the bench -- maybe Turner will become more of a 1B against left-handed starters?

Fans will hope that the move to take out Turner was precautionary, as he's been a nice addition to the lineup this season. Thus far, Turner is hitting .279 with five homers and 18 RBI. He came to Boston after spending the last nine years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He spent part of four years with the Mets and part of two years with the Orioles as well.

For his career, he's a .289 hitter with 169 homers and 681 RBI. He has a lifetime OPS of .831.

At the time of this posting, the Red Sox lead the Padres, 6-1, in the bottom of the eighth inning. Outside of Turner's injury, the big stories of this game are Rafael Devers having two home runs, Xander Bogaerts playing his first game against his former team, and James Paxton wielding a quality start, allowing just the one run over six innings.

If the Red Sox hold onto win this game they'll move to 25-20. A loss would drop the Padres to 20-25.

The two teams will play again on Saturday night at 10:10 p.m. ET. Chris Sale will pitch against Joe Musgrove.

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