​New York, NY – September 29: Boston Red Sox left fielder Roman Anthony walks up to the plate to bat in the first inning. The Boston Red Sox played the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the 2026 Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on September 29, 2026. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images Losing 9-0 against your blood rivals to open off the postseason is bad enough. But the pain of last night was brought to another level by losing 9-0 while your leadoff hitter and the face of the franchise mysteriously leaves the game after two awkward strikeouts. As we discussed last night, Roman Anthony appeared to re-aggravate his bad right hand in the final game of the season against the Rays. And as OTM’s Matt Gross points out, footage from last night shows that he had his hand heavily taped up prior to the game:You can see in this picture from before last night’s game that Roman Anthony’s right hand was pretty heavily taped up leading into it. Whatever happened in Tampa was much worse than they initially let on. In hindsight, Anthony likely doesn’t even start if it’s not a playoff game. https://t.co/HjRyH5mAXApic.twitter.com/j5lPe5LHXW— Matthew Gross (@MattGross87) September 30, 2026And, as it turns out, despite the fact that he returned at the end of August and performed as the lineup’s top hitter during an otherwise sleepy stretch run to end the season, Anthony has been battling the hand the whole time. In fact, Andruw Monasterio had been informed before the game even started that he may be called on to replace Anthony in the lineup. “He took a check swing and then another swing and his hand flared on him. And it got uncomfortable, so we had to make a move there,” Chad Tracy said. “It’s difficult. You’ll get a zinger every once in a while where you feel something, it’s fine, it goes away … [Tuesday] some stuff happened that was more serious and was uncomfortable.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)With Anthony out, Jahmai Jones will DH and leadoff, while Nate Eaton will play left. Red Sox lineup (no Roman Anthony) for Game 2 against the Yankees:DH Jahmai JonesC Adley Rutschman1B Willson ContrerasRF Wilyer AbreuCF Ceddanne Rafaela3B Caleb Durbin2B Nick SogardSS Trevor Story LF Nate Eaton RHP Sonny Gray— Tim Crowley (@tcrowley37) September 30, 2026Anthony was hardly the only hitter to struggle against Cam Schlittler last night. And making matters worse was the fact that the Sox had been preparing to face him for weeks. But Schlittler had a surprise in store for the Sox, as he unleashed his curveball far more than he typically does. “He was landing it just for some get-me-overs to try to get back into counts and getting ahead early. Good on him to kinda mix it up there,” said Caleb Durbin. “I thought he was doing a better job today of mixing up in the zone and lower in the zone with fastballs and his curveball.” (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)It won’t matter how the lineup performs