Red Sox stars avoid major injury scare after frightening outfield collision

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Feb 27, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Red Sox appear to have dodged a huge bullet.

During the bottom of the first inning of Friday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, Red Sox outfielders Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela collided in left field trying to chase down a fly ball off the bat of Jurickson Profar. The two went down and were immediately attended by the trainers, but after a couple of minutes both were back on their feet and remained in the game.

Anthony and Rafaela each said later that the collision was a result of a miscommunication, but they were both fine.

“We both called it and I thought I got it and he thought he got it,” Rafaela said. “It was a misunderstanding.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora expressed frustration about the lack of communication postgame, noting that if the center fielder calls for the ball, it’s his ball.

“When that doesn’t happen, things like that can happen,” Cora said.

Anthony appeared to take the brunt of the impact, as Rafaela was on his feet first and the trainers spent more time looking at the second-year standout. Anthony said he hit Rafaela in a weird spot with his left arm, but that he could tell right away he wasn’t injured and that it was “nothing crazy, just a little bruise.”

“I just wanted to take a second, we got the wind knocked out of both of us I think a little bit there and hit him pretty hard and wanted to make sure he was good,” Anthony said. “Weird feeling at first but nothing too crazy.”

Rafaela said he got hit by Anthony’s knee on his left hamstring, but similarly knew he wasn’t injured.

“I was just hoping he was OK, I was more worried about him than I was about me,” Rafaela said. “I saw him in some pain and I don’t like seeing my teammates in those types of situations.”

Both players eventually gave the thumbs up and remained in the game. Shortly afterwards in the third inning Anthony hit a single up the middle off of former Red Sox ace Chris Sale, and Rafaela stepped up next at bat and hit an opposite field two-run home run to deep right center field.

Rafaela (1 for 2, home run) was subbed out in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Anthony (1 for 3, one run) came out in the bottom of the sixth. Both players said they are good to play on Saturday if called upon.

Like a scene out of Batman

With the knowledge that his starting left and center fielders were OK, Cora finished his postgame remarks by making a humorous comparison to a scene from the “The Dark Knight,” specifically the part where the Joker has captured both district attorney Harvey Dent and assistant DA Rachel Dawes, Batman’s love interest, and forces Batman to choose who to save.

“The Joker has them split up and you have to pick one. I made sure I picked both,” Cora said. “We were watching it like a week ago and it felt that way, but I made sure ‘are you OK, are you OK, are you OK?’ We’re good.”

No update on Rodgers

Prior to Friday’s game Cora said second baseman Brendan Rodgers underwent an MRI on his injured right shoulder on Thursday, but the club is still awaiting the results.

“We’ll probably have information tomorrow,” Cora said.

Rodgers suffered the injury during Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins. The former Gold Glove winner is among a handful of non-roster invitees vying for a spot on the Red Sox’s bench.

Extra innings

Right-hander Kutter Crawford and left-hander Patrick Sandoval threw live batting practice earlier Friday, which Cora said went very well. The two veterans are expected to both throw multiple innings of live BP next before potentially progressing to game action. … Left-hander Alec Gamboa, a non-roster invitee, has been shut down for three days with an unspecified injury suffered earlier this week, Cora said. … Infielder Anthony Seigler (knee) has resumed hitting but remains day-to-day. … Right-hander Johan Oviedo (illness) was back at Red Sox camp on Friday after heading home early on Thursday. … Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng has left Red Sox camp to join Team Chinese Taipei ahead of the World Baseball Classic. The club’s other participants will join their respective teams in the coming days.