Red Sox’ Lucas Giolito details ‘devastating’ elbow injury that will keep him out of playoffs

NEW YORK — A downcast Lucas Giolito was uplifted by watching rotation mate Garrett Crochet and the rest of the Red Sox beat the Yankees in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday. On a personal level, though, the right-hander is hurting.

A visit to Alabama to address elbow soreness with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Dugas revealed that Giolito has no ligament damage but that the flexor and bone issues he is dealing with in his throwing arm are too much to try to pitch through. Giolito, an anchor of Boston’s rotation all season, is out for the postseason after being prescribed rest to quell the discomfort.

“I feel like I haven’t really processed it,” Giolito said after Boston’s 3-1 Game 1 win. “It has happened very fast.

“It has obviously been devastating. Going through what happened last year, grinding back and then being able to help this team be in the position we’re in here now, there was no other thought in my mind than to continue to do what I was doing in the postseason. To have that ripped away from you, it’s a tough one to deal with.”

Giolito first felt some soreness during his September 17 outing, when he walked five against the Athletics, and said he was “grinding” six days later when he walked four batters in 4 ⅔ innings in Toronto. In a bullpen session ahead of a potential Game 162 start last week, the discomfort became too much for Giolito to pitch through. He shut things down and flew to Alabama fearing the worst. Imaging revealed that Giolito, who twice has undergone major elbow surgery, is not facing a similarly severe situation this time around.

“In layman’s terms, my flexor is very irritated and — this is hard to be to describe — but there’s weird stuff going on with my bone,“ Giolito said. I was told, ‘You’ve got to stop throwing and let it calm down.’

“It’s pretty interesting… The good news is that structurally, everything was checked out and good, which was a small relief in a very unfortunate situation … Any time a pitcher injures their elbow, that’s the worst fear. For that to be confirmed that it’s not the case, it was a big relief.”

Giolito, after making 26 consecutive starts and posting a 3.41 ERA behind Crochet and Brayan Bello, was intent on pushing through the soreness to pitch meaningful games for the Red Sox. If the Sox had not clinched a postseason spot before Sunday’s final game of the regular season, Giolito was in line to pitch. He was also the leading candidate for a winner-takes-all, if necessary Game 3 start that will now likely go to rookie Connelly Early.

“It started off mild and obviously, got progressively worse,” Giolito said. “There was no other thought on my mind than to grind through and be available to throw as many quality innings as possible. Once it got to a point where it really started affecting throwing, that’s when we had to address it.”

There’s no good time for a pitcher to deal with an elbow injury but this setback is especially tough for Giolito, who at 31 will enter the free agent market this winter in search of long-term stability. Instead of showcasing for interested teams on the biggest stage possible, he’ll instead have to answer questions about his health when clubs reach out in free agency.

“You have to rest and address the inflammation,” he said. “Let that go down, get a full range of motion back, and then once it is calmed down, I’m able to begin my throwing and progression.”

After being a key factor in Boston’s return to the postseason for the first time in four years, Giolito will be a spectator for as long as the club’s October run goes. Wins like Tuesday’s make that reality more palatable.

“It’s not about me. This is about the Red Sox,” Giolito said. “This is about our postseason run and us coming together, going after the ultimate goal. I appreciate being able to be here with the team. My role’s a little different now than it was during the season. I’m gonna embrace that and be here for these guys.”