Boston Red Sox baseball chief Craig Breslow said this week that he will “prioritize” adding a starting pitcher at this year’s trade deadline. A sudden and gut-wrenching turn of events early in Friday night’s dramatic, come-from-behind win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park showed exactly why adding a starter must be Breslow’s focus.
Righty Hunter Dobbins took the mound to make his first start since a turn on the 15-day injured list with an elbow strain. But the 25-year-old from Bryan, Texas, was just 27 pitches into his outing, with one out in the second inning, when he ran to cover first base on a routine ground ball by the Rays’ Chandler Simpson.
Dobbins took the toss from first baseman Abraham Toro, stepped on the bag and got the out â but came up hobbling, keeping his weight off of his right leg. He tried to throw one warm-up pitch, but still could not put weight on the leg. At that point, manager Alex Cora pulled him from the game.
Injury Casts Cloud Over Inspiring Red Sox Win
Boston fell behind in the game 4-1, but after pulling to within one run, the red-hot Red Sox sealed their eighth straight win in dramatic fashion when center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela blasted a two-run home run off Tampa Bay closer Pete Fairbanks, walking off with the 5-4 win.
For the 24-year-old from Willemstad, Curacao, the blast was his fourth in the last six games.
But Dobbins told Boston Herald reporter Gabrielle Starr that he was actually inside an MRI machine getting imaging on his knee when Rafaela hit the walk-off homer, and had to be given the play-by-play by the technicians administering the exam.
Sadly, Dobbins also confirmed that his rookie season was over, according to Starr.
The MRI tests showed that Dobbins suffered a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. According to the Mayo Clinic, the ACL is “one of the strong bands of tissue that help connect your thigh bone (femur) to your shinbone (tibia).”
Dobbins told reporters that he knew he had torn the ACL immediately, because he had torn the same ligament before while playing high school football in Texas. While the Red Sox did not yet announce whether or not Dobbins will require surgery, he was immediately placed back on the 15-day disabled list and almost certainly faces a lengthy absence.
Dobbins Looking at Spring, 2026, For Comeback
A typical recovery time for an ACL injury is about 10 months, according to the University of Colorado Health site. That means, with no major setbacks, Dobbins will likely not pitch in a Major League game again before May of 2026.
Dobbins’ career was off to a promising start with a 4-1 record and 4.13 ERA in 13 games, including two relief appearances, this year. His big league debut came on April 6 when he threw five innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, allowing two runs on eight hits. The Red Sox won that game 18-7, giving Dobbins the victory.
On June 8 and 14, Dobbins made two straight starts against the then-first-place New York Yankees, his first taste of the legendary Boston-New York rivalry. He got the win both times. In the June 18 game, Dobbins shut out the Yankees through six innings allowing just two hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
The Red Sox on Saturday recalled another rookie starter, 25-year-old Richard Fitts, from Triple-A Worcester to take Dobbins’ roster spot and, in all likelihood, his spot in the Boston rotation as well, at least until Breslow adds another starting pitcher via trade. If indeed he does.
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