Boston Red Sox star Alex Bregman left the first game of Friday’s doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles with an apparent leg injury.

Bregman singled to left field off the Green Monster and seemed to get caught in-between whether or not he wanted to run to second. He immediately left the game.

While it’s too early to speculate on the severity, any missed time would be devastating for Boston. The 31-year-old, who was signed this past offseason, is hitting .299 with a .385 on-base percentage. In the absence of Triston Casas and the struggles of Trevor Story, he’s been a driving force in the team’s lineup, also popping 11 homers and driving in 35.

A 10-year veteran of the Houston Astros and Red Sox, Bregman is a career .273 hitter with 202 home runs. He is a two-time All-Star and a two-time World Series champion, and he is also a Gold Glover and a Silver Slugger.

Should Bregman need to miss any time, the team could elect to put Rafael Devers back at third base, however, he’s been resistant to play defense again after moving to designated hitter this offseason to accommodate Bregman.

The second game of the doubleheader will be played at 7:10 p.m. ET as Lucas Giolito takes the mound for Boston.

Boston hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2021 season, when they advanced to the American League Championship Series. They last won the World Series in 2018 when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Red Sox are 25-26 entering play on Friday.

HISTORY-MAKING PERFORMANCE: Garrett Crochet, who was acquired this offseason by the Red Sox, is in a rare class of pitchers through his first 11 starts. CLICK HERE:

STEADY FRANKIE: Francisco Lindor, in his 11th year, just joined a special group of shortstops with his latest home run. CLICK HERE:

REPEAT PERFORMANCE? The Tigers are on a run unlike anything they’ve seen since they won the World Series in 1984. CLICK HERE:

Futuristic technology has officially entered the historic city of Boston.

Waymo self-driving cars are driving around Boston through the end of June, gathering data on driving conditions and behaviors.

Although every Waymo car in Boston has a driver behind the wheel during this testing phase, many Bostonians are hesitant about the idea.

“I don’t think it’s the best idea. I feel like it’s kind of unsafe,” said Bella Lauzon from Arlington.

“Honestly, I think it’s crazy, cause what can you do? What if you have to brake and the car don’t brake?” said Kent Green from Malden.

Waymo has been visiting cities across the country, collecting information on a variety of areas. In Boston, that means navigating old and often confusing roadways.

“There’s a lot of one-ways, and there are very tight streets with a lot of pedestrians, so a little scary,” said Sarah Warjas from Medford.

“The streets are too small. I feel like it’s just causing more traffic — bike lanes,” added Green.

It also means learning Boston’s distinct driving culture, even during a nor’easter.

“I feel like it’s a little aggressive. You kind of have to be on your toes,” said Lauzon.

“I don’t like driving downtown to begin with, so I probably wouldn’t trust a self-driving car,” added Warjas.

Waymo is driving throughout the Boston area from Mission Hill to Cambridge, Somerville to Southie. You may also spot their cars on the Massachusetts Turnpike and Interstate 93.

The Alphabet-owned company currently operates autonomously in only four cities: Phoenix, Austin, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“I think conceptually, I’m OK with it. I came here from California, and there was lots of self-driving cars,” said Scott William of Malden. “I’m hoping that the technology is better to the point where they’re not crashing all the time and things like that.”

Earlier this month, Waymo recalled 1,200 self-driving cars to update the software after a series of minor collisions.

Right now, there is no timeline for when a driverless rider program would be launched in Boston.

BOSTON — The Red Sox weren’t in a great place as a pitching staff Wednesday.

The bullpen tossed 11 scoreless innings over the previous two games, particularly with 6 1/3 innings after the premature ejection of starter Walker Buehler in Tuesday’s win.

That marked a great day for Garrett Crochet to get the ball in the finale against the New York Mets. Or so it seemed.

Crochet leads the league in innings pitched in just his second season as a full-time starter. He tossed 146 innings a year ago with the Chicago White Sox. While the Red Sox have let him eat in early outings, manager Alex Cora is adamant about protecting his ace.

“We’ve got to be careful, too,” Cora said pregame. “He’s very important in what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s a dangerous game. The conditions aren’t great. Where we’re at bullpen-wise is where we’re at. We won the series yesterday. We want more, of course, but at the same time knowing it’s 162. To do cool things in August, September and hopefully October, we’ve got to be very careful.”

Indeed, they were careful. Crochet allowed just one earned run in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out Juan Soto on his 85th pitch for the first out of the sixth inning. Following through on a decision made last week in preparations for the start, the Red Sox manager came to the mound to get his starter.

“He did a good job,” Cora said postgame. “Today was one of those days we circled that we were going to be short.”

“I wasn’t made aware of it before the game, thankfully,” Crochet said. “That’s the last thing on my mind when I’m going out there to lay it all on the line. I have a lot of love, respect and trust in the front office and coaching staff here. If that’s their call, I’m gonna respect that.”

The Red Sox dropped the game 5-1 to the Mets. Crochet certainly didn’t hold back frustrations on the mound when Cora came to take the ball, but the ace reluctantly understands the vision of the coaching staff.

“I was frustrated,” Crochet said with a laugh. “I just wanted the chance to pick up my teammates, the bullpen. They’ve obviously worked really hard this series. I wanted to try and keep them out of it as much as possible. … I apologized for yelling a curse word when he came out there. I wasn’t trying to show him up. I was just really in the moment. I knew where my pitch count was and how my body was feeling. I was really excited to attack the next hitter. It was in no way my intention to show him up.”

“Yeah, it’s tough,” Crochet continued. “Looking my teammates in the eye after a game, I’d like to be able to do that after laying it all on the line. It is what it is. Not my call. I throw until the ball is taken out of my hand. I respect their decision. That’s really all there is to it.”

Despite a dire situation for the bullpen, Cora would not break on his commitment to ensuring that Crochet is fresh and ready to rock when games really matter in a postseason push, which only happens if the team breaks .500 tendencies, for the Red Sox later this season.

“It’s not tough, it’s for the benefit of the player,” Cora said. “To make his starts and for us to go to where we feel we can go, we need him. … We’re going to find some days where we’re going to take advantage of them, regardless of the situation. You’ve got to put the player first. He was very upset in the beginning, then he was OK with it. Obviously, we were short (in the bullpen), but that doesn’t dictate what we’re going to do with our ace.”

Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Mets-Red Sox game:

— Mets starter Tylor Megill tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts against Boston in just 4 2/3 innings.

— Crochet struck out Soto three times on a total of 10 pitches. Soto did not take the bat off his shoulder for the first seven pitches against the Red Sox starter.

— The Red Sox lineup struck out a season-high 16 times in the loss. Alex Bregman went 0-for-4 and struck out four times in a game for the first time in his career.

— Boston dropped the finale for a third consecutive series.

— The Red Sox continue the homestand Thursday night as they welcome the Baltimore Orioles to Fenway for a four-game series. First pitch (weather permitting) is set for 6:45 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.