Steven Wright cracks the starting rotation, but for how long?

(Photo: David Butler, USA Today Sports)
Eric D. Schabell
Contributing Writer

It's been a long time coming, but Steven Wright breaks in to the starting rotation tonight against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.

The question was not so much when, but where and for how long.

The first question has been answered after Wright's six relief appearances since returning from off season knee surgery, which took over a year to recover from.

To give you an idea, it was not simply a blow out knee, but a restoration project as they shared at the time.

So little over a year later Wright is back on the mound, and a month after that he's back in the starting rotation?

His knuckleball has been very effective and he's shown good control, throwing 65% of his pitches for strikes over 16 relief innings pitched. He struck out 14 and gave up four earned runs. posting a 2.25 ERA.

For how long Wright has cracked the rotation we look no further than manager Alex Cora, who as reported by NESN stated it's to give everyone an extra day of rest before the Red Sox start a 26 game stretch in 27 days.

"I do feel this is a time of year that, if I’m feeling it, I know they’re feeling it," Cora said. "With the traveling, all those day games last week, I don’t know what time we’re going to get in (Monday) to Boston, so I think it makes sense to give him that start. I think it’s good for him and also I think pushing everybody back is going to be beneficial for us in the long run."

Wright's not to replace Drew Pomeranz after his eight starts with a 1-3 record and 6.81 ERA in the rotation.

It seems that Pomeranz gets a rather long leash, but the question is how long?

Look for Wright to try and maximize his chance and work as deep as six or seven innings. If the knuckleball is dancing, with game time weather being partly cloudy with some wind, it'll depend on his ability to control and throw strikes.

Another interesting side effect will be how the Tigers hitters react to Eduardo Rodriguez in game two on Wednesday after facing the fluttering, dancing, slow knuckleball from Wright Tuesday.

Red Sox Nation is in for a treat as one of the few effective knuckleballers shall be on display at Fenway Park. Don't be late for first pitch and keep your eye on the ball.

Post a comment or via twitter @erics_redsox with your thoughts.

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