Boston Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez has been left off the playoff roster for the American League Wild Card Game against the visiting New York Yankees on Tuesday night at Fenway Park as he continues to recover from a sprained left ankle.
Martinez suffered the injury in the fifth inning of Boston’s regular-season finale when he tripped over the second-base bag while jogging out to right field. He was pulled from the game an inning later.
The Yankees, meanwhile, expect Gio Urshela to be in the lineup tonight. Urshela bruised his right thigh and suffered some cuts when he made a diving catch in the Tampa Bay dugout in the Yankees’ regular-season finale Sunday, a massive play that helped New York en route to a walk-off 1-0 win that clinched its wild-card spot.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will face Nathan Eovaldi at Fenway in tonight’s game. The Yankees-Red Sox winner will move on to face the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays beginning Thursday in St. Petersburg, Florida.