Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito underwent UCL surgery with internal brace

The news isn’t any better for Lucas Giolito less than a week after he was shut down with elbow discomfort.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters Monday the right-hander is headed for surgery Tuesday, following a second-opinion appointment Monday with Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at Andrews Sports Medicine in Alabama.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox announced that Giolito underwent a successful right elbow ulnar collateral ligament repair with internal brace.

The recovery from internal bracing can be 10-12 months. It’s an elbow surgery more common for position players than pitchers.

Last week, Cora announced Giolito experienced elbow discomfort following his last start and the team would be shutting him down to gather more information, noting the possibility of surgery.

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“It’s not a good day for us,” Cora said at the time.

The Red Sox signed the 29-year-old to a two-year, $38.5 million deal this past offseason as their lone free-agent addition to the rotation. Giolito had Tommy John surgery over a decade ago, shortly after he signed with the Washington Nationals as a first-round pick in 2012. But his health and durability have been a hallmark of his career, having thrown 160 or more innings and making at least 29 starts in each full season since 2018.

Last season, Boston’s rotation ranked 27th in baseball with 774 1/3 innings, averaging just 4 2/3 innings per start. They were leaning on Giolito for that durability to strengthen the rotation.

Now the Red Sox will likely be without Giolito for the remainder of the season, and they must fill his spot in the rotation. While free-agent starter Jordan Montgomery is still on the market, Boston seems comfortable with its internal options for the rotation.

“Over the last couple of weeks, I do think it’s become evident that there are a number of guys that we have in camp that appear ready to take a step forward,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said. “And I think that’s a credit to the work that they’ve done and a credit to the pitching infrastructure and the work that Andrew (Bailey) has done. We’ve also maintained that if there was an opportunity to improve the team through some external acquisition that we needed to be responsible and try to track that down as well.”

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Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta and Kutter Crawford will fill the first three spots of the rotation with Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock, Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski battling for the fourth and fifth spots.

Over the weekend, the club finalized a six-year, $55 million deal for the 24-year-old Bello.

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(Photo: Billie Weiss / Getty Images)