Red Sox LHP David Price dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome

Struggling Boston Red Sox left-hander David Price has been diagnosed with a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome, manager Alex Cora said during his Wednesday appearance on WEEI radio.

Price was scratched from his scheduled Wednesday night start against the New York Yankees on Tuesday due to numbness in his pitching fingers. The 32-year-old experienced numbness during Sunday's throwing session.

Numbness is one of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is caused by compression of the median nerve as it travels through the wrist.

The results of Price's examination were anything but discouraging to Cora.

"Actually, it's good news," Cora told the team's flagship radio station. "Obviously when you start talking about hand and tingling effects in the finger, you start thinking the worst. He has a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome. We're going to treat it the way we feel that he's going to be good again."

Price has periodically experienced numbness in his pitching hand this season, including an April 11 start against the Yankees in which he recorded just three outs while allowing four runs.

Boston remains hopeful Price can make his next start, which may occur during an upcoming weekend series in Toronto. Cora said Price will rejoin the team Thursday in New York.

"He's going to throw. Hopefully, he throws a bullpen, and after that, we'll make a decision if he makes his next start or something else," Cora said. "But actually, for everything else that is going on and the last 24 hours, for me, it's kind of like ... thank God it's nothing else than just that."

Carpal tunnel syndrome more often hinders someone who does a lot of computer work or other jobs in which there are repetitive movements. But Cora said the diagnosis fits when it comes to being a pitcher.

"Well, when you pitch, you use your wrist and use your hand and sometimes you get it regripping, working on your grip on pitches or just the repetition," Cora said. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know why or how this happened, but as you know, they throw flat ground, they play catch, they throw bullpens, they do their exercises. These guys are athletes. They do stuff differently than regular people in the world."

When asked if Price's frequent video gaming, particularly the popular title Fortnite, had to do with the diagnosis, Cora shot down the notion, though he said the team will talk to Price about it.

"For what I know, David has played video games his whole life," Cora said. "It seems like Fortnite now is the one everybody's playing. But last year, I saw a lot of guys playing FIFA. And that's a lot of playing, too. There's a lot of teams playing Fortnite, too. I don't know. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Price is just 1-4 with an 8.22 ERA over his past five starts. Overall, he is 2-4 with a 5.11 ERA over seven starts.

--Field Level Media