Giolito trying to embrace new role with Red Sox after injury diagnosis

NEW YORK As the Red Sox battled to maintain their hold on a Wild Card in the waning weeks of the regular season one of their preponderance key pitchers was quietly fighting what ultimately proved to be a losing battle I perhaps started feeling it around my start against the A s Yeah it started off mild and obviously got progressively worse commented right-hander Lucas Giolito whom the Red Sox left off the Wild Card roster after manager Alex Cora made the stunning announcement about the injury on Monday It started off mild and obviously got progressively worse Knowing what was at stake for the band Giolito was determined to persevere He also initially thought the issue was purely the usual toll of a long season of work There was no other thought in my mind than to grind through and be available to throw as multiple quality innings as accomplishable he noted Once it got to a point where it really started affecting throwing that s when we had to address it I ve been doing this for so long that you get used to things I wouldn t say I was necessarily feeling any particular pain I just felt like I was grinding And then it kind of got worse later The developing point was his bullpen session before potentially pitching in the final battle of the regular season The club flew Triple-A righty Jos De Leon back from Puerto Rico to start Sunday s Contest and Giolito flew to Alabama to see Dr Jeffrey Dugas the surgeon who performed his March elbow surgery Then having won their final battle of the regular season the Red Sox flew to New York to face the Yankees without one of the company leaders who made this October run feasible Meanwhile Giolito was receiving what he described as a pretty intriguing identification He did not have another UCL injury a pitcher s worst fear The issue is not affecting his UCL but it s around that area where Dugas secured the internal brace last year I think I kind of got lucky in that aspect Giolito commented Still pitching was out of the question The good news is that structurally everything was checked out and good which was I guess a small relief in a very unfortunate situation he reported But as it was described to me I m not a specialist in layman s terms my flexor is very irritated And there s like at this point it s hard for me to describe it s like weird stuff going on with my bone So yeah I mean it s one of those things where I was recounted you know you got to stop throwing and let it calm down No UCL injury was a big relief but it doesn t really make up for where we re at right now Giolito will now step back into a role that became painfully familiar to him last year that of the supportive teammate stuck on the sidelines He spent all of last season his first of a two-year contract with the Red Sox playing that part after his surgery but it will be different this time around After completing a tremendous comeback in the regular season and playing such a substantial role in the Red Sox making the postseason for the first time since he cannot help them play through it I feel like I haven t really processed it it s happened very fast Giolito announced It s obviously been devastating Going through what happened last year grinding back and then being able to help this group be in the position that we re in here now like I disclosed there was no other thought in my mind than to continue to do what I was doing in the postseason So to have that kind of ripped away from you it s a tough one to deal with Then the consummate teammate was back It s not about me declared Giolito This is about the Red Sox This is about our postseason run This is about us coming together and going after the ultimate goal So I appreciate being able to be here with the company and my role is a little different now than it was during the season I m going to embrace that and just be here for these guys It s been a really fun year and we want to continue that