NEW YORK -- Hanley Ramirez was a late scratch Friday afternoon, complaining of fatigue in his right shoulder and sitting out the opener of a three-game set with the New York Mets.
"Like I've been saying over the last couple of weeks,'' said interim manager Torey Lovullo, "we want guys to stay ahead of (injuries) and not play catchup. It just made a lot of sense to give him a day down today and see where he's at tomorrow.''
Lovullo stressed that the ailing shoulder is the right one, and not the one Ramirez banged up in early May - the same one that he's twice had surgically repaired.
"I think all these guys battle fatigue in certain areas of their body,'' Lovullo said. "They're going hard. We've got to do right by the player. So when you get information that he needs a little time down, you've got to follow through.''
With Ramirez out, that gave Lovullo a chance to get Jackie Bradley Jr. -- originally out of as part of the rotation with Rusney Castillo that Lovullo has had -- into the lineup. Bradley took over in left field and hit eighth.