Trevor Story, the injured incumbent shortstop, is close to returning to the Red Sox after an absence of more than three months. Interim manager Chad Tracy said the club’s “goal” is for Story to resume his duties as the starter.
Where does that leave Andruw Monasterio, who was about fourth on the depth chart but emerged as a key contributor as the Sox turned their season around?
Ready to return to his utility role.
“I know what my role is,” Monasterio said. “At the beginning of the season, I played DH, first base, second base — I don’t have any issues with that. I know what my role is.
“And in spring training, [Story] was the shortstop of the team, so I don’t want to be mad or I don’t want to be upset if they make that decision. They are the front office, they are the coaches, they make the decision. They pay me to play, I play whatever they want.”
The generally jolly infielder has remained so throughout the evolution of his role, which grew as Story (sports hernia), Isiah Kiner-Falefa (left forearm stress reaction), and Marcelo Mayer (left forearm stress reaction, then traded to the Giants) got hurt.
Monasterio took over as the everyday shortstop on July 22. Since then, he has slashed .298/.358/.404 across 27 games heading into the series with the Giants at Fenway Park this weekend.
Backing up to early July and the start of the Sox’ 15-game winning streak, Monasterio owns a .306/.375/.484 slash line, albeit with poorly rated defense.
“I have to be proud of myself,” Monasterio said. “I feel like maybe — I want to say maybe — maybe I did better than what they expected, so I feel proud of myself about that. When [Story] comes back, [Kiner-]Falefa comes back, and [Curtis] Mead comes back, whatever they want. I’m a team player and I want to win a ring. That’s all that matters.”
Story, who had a scheduled day off Thursday, is 3 for 9 (two strikeouts, no walks) in three games with Triple-A Worcester. He played seven and six innings, respectively, at shortstop the prior two days.
Tracy made clear this week that when Story and Kiner-Falefa return, he will look for ways to keep Monasterio on the field.
The middle infield will be something of a meritocracy down the stretch.
“I don’t think he’ll still play. He’ll still play,” Tracy said, shifting to a definitive tone. “You’re at that point where you’ve got to kind of play the hot hand and then find ways to mix and match whatever else you have to keep people involved. But Mona has played exceptionally well for two months.”
Rehab roundup
Among other injured-but-close Red Sox: Kiner-Falefa went 1 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout in his first game with Worcester on Wednesday and was back in the lineup Thursday, going 0 for 3 with a strikeout before leaving the game.
Roman Anthony (sprained right hand/wrist) returned to Double-A Portland’s lineup Thursday after being off Wednesday. He was 0 for 3 with a strikeout before exiting.
Tip-top Tyron
Between Tyron Guerrero’s meltdown in Toronto last week and his back-to-back dominant appearances against the Diamondbacks this week, he had five days off — his longest reprieve since the All-Star break.
Before that, he had pitched in 10 games over 20 days, a heavy load at a time of significant Sox success.
“Oh, man. It was really good. Finally, I recovered a lot,” Guerrero said. “My arm feels great again. We’re back.”
Among the red flags from Guerrero in his rare misstep: five batters faced, no outs recorded, fastball velocity below his triple-digit norm.
On Tuesday, Guerrero surpassed 103 miles per hour on two pitches. On Wednesday, he topped out at 102.1 (and threw another at 102).
“A little bit reset with everything — mind-set, my body,” Guerrero said.
“He’s dynamic,” Tracy said. “Let’s say you get into spots where you feel like the starter’s running out of gas. We know we might need a pickup here. What do I want to do? Well, I’d love to go to the 103 and make sure the inning gets put down.”
Pitching plans
Rafael Devers’s Giants will go with their top starter, Logan Webb, in the series opener Friday. Following him: Blade Tidwell on Saturday and TBD on Sunday. The Sox will counter with Sonny Gray, Patrick Sandoval, and Jake Bennett, who will pitch for the first time in nine days … Jarren Duran’s average is up to .206. He hasn’t been higher than that since June 20 … After plenty of talk about the Sox’ stretch of playing 16 days in a row, another such threat looms: 14 games in 13 days, beginning Aug. 28. That run will kick off with four games in three days against the Yankees in New York.
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.