NEW YORK -- Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia left Wednesday night's game against the New York Yankees after his first at-bat with left knee discomfort.
Manager Alex Cora said after the Red Sox's 5-3 loss that Pedroia had approached him and told him that he felt "something weird" in his surgically repaired knee. Pedroia will stay in New York and be evaluated by a doctor Thursday.
"For him to come up to me and tell me how he felt, obviously, I know a lot of people think he's going to push and push and push and not be smart about it; well, he understands where he's at and how he felt," Cora said. "I gotta do what I have to do to take care of the player. I was surprised he came up to me and told me that."
Cora said the team likely will need help at second base with Pedroia's injury, although a roster move was not announced after the game. Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin, who has served as organizational depth the past two seasons, appears to be the logical choice to come up from Triple-A should Pedroia, 35, hit the injured list.
Pedroia, who has had issues with the knee since 2017 and missed all but three games during the 2018 season, made his 2019 debut in the team's home opener last week. The longtime fan favorite is just 2-for-20 so far, starting his first three games at second base and two games at designated hitter. He was playing second Wednesday night and was replaced by Eduardo Nunez.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had said Tuesday that Pedroia was exactly where he expected to be offensively and that his three rehab games for Class A Greenville sufficed.
"He felt he was ready to go," Dombrowski said. "To stretch this out over a lengthy period, it would take a long time period to get through the whole time.
"He's not going to be ready to play -- which we've said all along -- every day for a lengthy period. So we're willing to deal with the situation."
After spending 2017 playing through left knee discomfort, Pedroia underwent a cartilage restoration procedure. He told reporters at spring training this year that if he could do it all over again, he would not have had the surgery, which ended up sidelining him for most of 2018.
"I don't regret doing it, but looking back and [knowing] what I know now, I wouldn't have done it," Pedroia said in March.
Pedroia's health struggles have put the Red Sox in a tight position, including having to use catcher Christian Vazquez at second. Vazquez, who totaled 4⅔ innings at the position for Greenville back in 2010, did not own an infielder's glove.