Red Sox reliever Chris Martin placed on injured list with elbow inflammation

NEW YORK (AP) — Boston Red Sox right-hander Chris Martin was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday because of right elbow inflammation, and left-hander Cam Booser was recalled from Triple-A Worcester.

Boston made the placement retroactive to Thursday, a day after the 38-year-old Martin pitched one inning against Miami.

“We’ll know more over the course of the weekend. He didn’t feel great after the last one. It felt sluggish and he felt some pain,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before a series opener at the New York Yankees. “We feel like this is something minor but, obviously, where we are at in the season, the day off on Monday and then the All-Star break, it doesn’t make sense to push him out there, and then we lose him for a longer period of time.”

Cora said Martin felt tightness while playing catch Friday.

Martin didn’t pitch for the Red Sox between May 30 and June 19 because of anxiety. He signed a $17.5 million, two-year contract with Boston ahead of the 2023 season and went 4-1 with a 1.05 ERA and 23 holds. He is 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA and 10 holds this season.

A nine-year major league veteran, Martin is 15-18 with a 3.37 ERA in 350 games for Colorado (2014), the Yankees (2015), Texas (2018-19), Atlanta (2019-21), the Chicago Cubs (2022), the Los Angeles Dodgers (2022), and the Red Sox (2023-24).

Booser, a 32-year-old who debuted on April 19, has a 3.21 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 28 innings. He is 2-2 with a 7.00 ERA in six games with Worcester.

First baseman Triston Casas, sidelined since April 20 by a strained left rib, took 25 swings without a ball Thursday, according to Cora.

Infielder Vaughn Grissom, out since June 1 with a strained right hamstring, was to get tested in the weight room Friday.