The Boston Red Sox designated pitcher Matt Dermody for assignment, hours after he made his first major league start in a loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday night, multiple outlets reported.
Dermody was called up from Triple-A Worcester on Thursday afternoon for the spot start and gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in four innings in the 10-3 loss.
In his major league career, the left-hander has a 2-1 record with a 5.74 ERA in 31 games with the Toronto Blue Jays (2016-17), Chicago Cubs (2020, 2022) and Red Sox.
Signed to a minor league contract in January, Dermody didn’t have the smoothest time with the Boston organization. He was 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in nine games (eight starts) at Worcester, and the Red Sox were criticized for his signing after a June 26, 2021, tweet came to light in which he said homosexuals “will not inherit the kingdom of God” but instead “will go to hell.”
He later deleted the tweet. Dermody was pitching in Japan then and his team, the Saitama Seibu Lions, issued an apology.
“I do regret the tweet in the sense that it came out hurtful and it hurt a lot of people,” Dermody said after Thursday’s game. “That’s the last thing I want to do is hurt people.
“A lot of people think that I’m against a certain group of people or whatnot. But I’m for everybody making it to heaven.”
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said at the time that he decided to keep Dermody, 32, in the organization after a talk with the pitcher.
Because the Red Sox have not yet announced the Dermody transaction, they haven’t made a corresponding move.
–Field Level Media