Isiah Kiner-Falefa

This Red Sox team is very different from the one Kiner-Falefa left back in late June. In fact, Kiner-Falefa got hurt before the Red Sox’s torrid stretch that began in June. He figures to return to a utility role off the bench.

Kiner-Falefa is expected to stay in Triple-A Worcester until rosters expand next week to prevent the Red Sox from having to make a challenging decision in a roster crunch. The 31-year-old has been out with forearm inflammation since late June.

Kiner-Falefa, out with forearm inflammation, was moved to the 60-day IL earlier this week, but he’ll be eligible to return from that even before the rehab assignment starts. The Red Sox probably won’t rush to bring him back, as they also have Trevor Story returning and only so much room on the roster.

The procedural move opens up a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster for Adley Rutschman. The 31-year-old has been on the injured list with left forearm inflammation since late June, which means he’s missed arguably the most exciting stretch in franchise history. It’s unclear when he’ll be ready to return from the injured list.

Kiner-Falefa has been on the injured list for a month with left forearm inflammation, so he has missed all the fun in Boston. The veteran utilityman will likely need a couple more weeks before he can begin a rehab assignment. However, while he has been out, not only have the Red Sox been on fire, but Romy Gonzalez has returned from the injured list, and Trevor Story has started to progress in his recovery from sports hernia surgery. There may not be much of a role for Kiner-Falefa to return to.

It says a lot about the Red Sox lineup that this is actually a pretty significant loss for Boston. Kiner-Falefa homered against the Blue Jays in the eighth inning Thursday in his final at-bat before going on the IL and is batting .277/.344/.401 on the season. Andruw Monasterio figures to pick up some extra playing time for now.

It’s an issue that has been nagging at the versatile 31-year-old for a couple of weeks now and got worse following the cross-country flight to Seattle on Friday, so the Red Sox will take a look and see what’s going on. He’s considered day-to-day for now.

Kiner-Falefa’s homer off Trey Yesavage gave the Red Sox their third run of the three-game series and was immediately followed by Caleb Durbin going back-to-back to tie the game at 3-3. The RBI was Kiner-Falefa’s first since June 3. At .277/.344/.361, he’s one of the few Red Sox hitters exceeding expectations this year. He’s actually ahead of his career-high .699 OPS from 58 games in 2020.

Since Trevor Story has been injured and Marcelo Mayer has shifted to shortstop, Kiner-Falefa has been getting regular starts for the Red Sox at second base. Since the beginning of May, he’s hitting .357/.438/.476 in 49 plate appearances with one home run, eight RBI, and two steals. He can be picked up in deeper fantasy formats while he’s getting regular playing time.

It makes sense that Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy is giving Kiner-Falefa some additional run since he’s hitting an absurd .414 (12-for-29) with one homer, seven RBI and one steal over his last 15 games. Marcelo Mayer heads to the bench on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland after starting four of the previous five games at shortstop for Boston.

Kiner-Falefa thought he had his first homer Sunday, a potential three-run walkoff blast against the Twins. Instead, it turned out to be a wall-scraper on a wet day in Boston and the Red Sox came up a run short in a 6-5 loss. He did get his first homer tonight, taking Dylan Lee deep in the seventh after Lee went his first 24 1/3 innings this year without allowing a homer. He also singled in two runs in another ninth-inning rally that came up just short in a 7-6 loss. Kiner-Falefa is up to .278/.350/.370 for the season, so he’s likely looking at additional playing time in the short term. That’s more bad news for Caleb Durbin.

It’s notable that Kiner-Falefa is making his second straight start at the spot with Andruw Monasterio on the bench. The 31-year-old infielder appears likely to help fill the void created when Trevor Story hit the injured list with a sports hernia last weekend. The widely-held assumption was that Boston would give former top prospect Marcelo Mayer a look at the position, but that doesn’t appear imminent.

It’s unclear exactly what happened on IKF’s chopper down the third base line in the seventh. If he felt the ball go off his foot, he made no attempt to argue the point. Had he ran right away, it might have been a tough play for Luis Rengifo. Kiner-Falefa is now 0-for-7 this season. It made some sense for the Red Sox to sign him as infield insurance, but the problem there is that there’s just no reason at all for the club to play him while everyone is healthy. Even if it makes sense to sit Marcelo Mayer against lefties, Andruw Monasterio is much better equipped than IKF to help as a platoon guy.

Once again, Roman Anthony is in the leadoff spot, he’s just serving as the designated hitter while Jarren Duran patrols the outfield. The only difference between Sunday’s lineup and what the team had been expected to use on Opening Day is Isiah Kiner-Falefa is in there at second base while Marcelo Mayer is riding the pine. He really will need to earn his spot this spring. Here’s the full lineup for Sunday: Roman Anthony (DH), Trevor Story (SS), Jarren Duran (LF), Willson Contreras (1B), Wilyer Abreu (RF), Caleb Durbin (3B), Ceddanne Rafaela (CF), Carlos Narvaez (C), Isiah Kiner-Falefa (2B).

The deal, which was agreed upon last week, is now official. The versatile 30-year-old infielder is likely to see most of his action with the Red Sox as a pinch runner or defensive replacement, due to his overall limitations offensively. He can continue to be ignored for fantasy purposes.

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo says it’s worth $6 million. Kiner-Falefa still plays passable defense at short and has a plus glove at second or third, but he offers nothing but the occasional single with the bat. He’s even stopped walking the last two years, and his OBP was down to .297 last season. He ought to be a true backup in Boston, even if the team fails to make further upgrades on offense.

The Jays will stick with exactly what worked for them in Game 4, running back the same lineup that had tremendous success against the Mariners on Thursday. Once again, here’s the full lineup as the Jays’ will battle against Mariners’ right-hander Bryce Miller on Friday night in Seattle: George Springer (DH), Nathan Lukes (LF), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B), Alejandro Kirk (C), Daulton Varsho (CF), Ernie Clement (3B), Addison Barger (RF), Kiner-Falefa (2B) and Andrés Giménez (SS).