Red Sox leadoff hitter Roman Anthony leaves playoff opener vs Yankees after aggravating hand injury

NEW YORK (AP) — Roman Anthony was removed from Boston's loss to the New York Yankees in their Wild Card Series opener with a right hand injury Tuesday night.

Batting leadoff as the Red Sox designated hitter in his playoff debut, Anthony struck out in both of his at-bats against Cam Schlittler before getting lifted for a pinch hitter with his team trailing 2-0 in the sixth inning.

Boston manager Chad Tracy said Anthony felt discomfort in his right hand after a couple of checked swings. The 22-year-old Anthony missed 101 games from May 5 to Aug. 29 with an injury to the same hand.

“He’s obviously coming off that. You’ll get a zinger every once in a while where you feel something — it’s fine, it goes away,” Tracy said. “Today some stuff happened that was more serious and was uncomfortable.”

New York took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series with a 9-0 victory.

It's unclear if Anthony will be able to play Wednesday night, when the Red Sox must win to extend their season.

“It’s hard to say right now,” Tracy said. “It’s one of those things where he obviously was in a lot of discomfort. So we had to remove him. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.”

One of baseball's premier prospects when he arrived in the majors last year, Anthony batted .245 with five home runs, 15 RBIs and a .735 OPS in 55 regular-season games this season.

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