BOSTON – Red Sox manager Alex Cora woke up at 4 a.m., excited for the team’s home opener. His club was coming home, fresh off a 10-game West Coast trip in which they went 7-3. The Red Sox had one of their signature pre-game ceremonies planned to celebrate the lives of Tim and Stacy Wakefield, Larry Lucchino and the 2004 World Series championship team.

Then a deluge of bad news came.

Shortly before the game began, the Red Sox announced right-hander Nick Pivetta, the veteran on a young, unproven rotation, was headed for the 15-day injured list with a right elbow flexor strain.

During an impromptu press conference to discuss Pivetta’s injury, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow announced shortstop Trevor Story was going to have surgery on his left shoulder, effectively ending his season.

Four hours later, two costly errors turned an early Red Sox lead into a deficit and an eventual 7-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

The one-two punch of losing Story and Pivetta, even if the Red Sox are hopeful Pivetta’s flexor strain is mild, put a damper on a fresh start for the Red Sox.

“We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to go. It’s tough,” Cora said. “It sounds hard, like we have no feelings or whatever. No, it’s the other way around. I care about these guys, but we’ve got to go. We’ve got goals and they’re our goals and we’re going to keep pushing for that.

“It was a bad day today. We’ve just got to turn the page tomorrow and play good baseball. Of course we’re going to miss them, but somebody has to step up.”

Story, who missed all but six weeks last season as he recovered from an internal bracing procedure on his throwing arm, struggled to compose himself as he spoke post-game about his disappointment in missing yet another season.

Trevor Story holds back tears as he talks about his latest injury setback pic.twitter.com/MfA3CRZXqW

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“I knew it was bad at the moment, as soon as I heard it come out,” he said of his shoulder dislocation on Friday in Anaheim, Calif.

As he spoke, Story had to stop several times, his eyes red and his voice weak, holding back his emotions. Months of rehabbing to get back to the club only to be back at square one yet again.

Story said he tried to be optimistic that the initial dislocation to his non-throwing arm wasn’t as serious as he felt, but the doctors’ recommendation forced reality to set in for him. The official diagnosis was a fracture of the glenoid rim, the socket in which the arm rotates. He’ll have surgery on Friday in Los Angeles by Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

“I know we have a special group,” he said. “We got off to a good start. The frustration of battling this injury thing over the last few years. It’s something I hung my hat on in my career is being able to play, to post. That hasn’t been the case the last couple of years. I just love this game, man. I put my heart and soul into it. I just feel bad.”

Without Story, the infield defense will be decidedly weaker and it showed in Tuesday’s loss. A two-out Ryan Mountcastle infield single clanged off Rafael Devers’ glove to David Hamilton at short. Cedric Mulllins reached on a dropped ball in left field by Jarren Duran and Colton Cowser doubled to center, but was nearly out at second before Enmanuel Valdez dropped the relay throw.

Despite the miscues, Breslow said the club will rely on internal options for now rather than looking for outside help to replace Story at short.

“I think right now we’re committed to giving the internal options a chance,” he said. “It works fairly well in terms of having both left-handed and right-handed options at both middle infield positions.”

The Red Sox plan to use a platoon at both second base and shortstop moving forward. To give the club more options on that front, the Red Sox sent Bobby Dalbec to Triple-A Worcester on Monday in exchange for infielder Romy Gonzalez. Gonzalez had been 9-for-28 with a 1.196 OPS in Worcester and also has the ability to play first, second, third, short, center and left field, according to Cora.

For now, the Red Sox plan to platoon Gonzalez and Hamilton at shortstop with Gonzalez, a right-handed hitter, starting against lefties and Hamilton, a left-handed hitter, starting against righties.

At second base, Pablo Reyes will start against lefties and Valdez against righties. Reyes may also see time at short, but most of his time for now will be at second.

Ceddanne Rafaela is also in the mix. Cora plans to use the speedy rookie mostly in center, but said there will be scenarios where he’d move Rafaela to second or short.

Meanwhile, both Vaughn Grissom and Rob Refsnyder are nearing rehab assignments. Grissom played shortstop for the Atlanta Braves before his trade to Boston, but the Red Sox feel he’s better suited at second. Still, he’s likely to get some reps at short once he begins his rehab assignment on Saturday with Worcester.

“I think it’s important for us to continue the development path we believed was best for him and best for the organization and that is very likely with him landing at second base,” Breslow said.

Refsnyder begins a rehab assignment with Worcester on Wednesday. How he fits into the outfield mix once he’s ready over the next couple weeks will be another piece to a jigsaw puzzle of the Red Sox’s roster.

For as unsettled as the infield mix is, the rotation took a hit with the Pivetta news.

The Red Sox will be without Pivetta for at least two weeks, but likely longer. The right-hander struggled to bounce back in between starts. He’d thrown 11 innings, allowing just one earned run. An MRI revealed a mild flexor tendon strain in his elbow, but no damage to the ulnar collateral ligament.

“We felt like this was a good opportunity to take advantage of off-days early in the season, put him on the IL just to give him a chance to recover,” Breslow said.

There’s still reason for concern. Flexor strains often, though not always, precede Tommy John surgery for many pitchers.

“I don’t really want to put a timetable on this,” Pivetta said. “Just when I’m ready to come back and feeling healthy enough to contribute and do what I love to do and not have to have anything else like this happen again.”

Pivetta marks the second Red Sox starter with early season elbow issues. Right-hander Lucas Giolito’s season ended before it began with a flexor strain that led to an internal bracing procedure in March. The Red Sox are hopeful Pivetta’s diagnosis is far less severe.

Though the Red Sox had Monday off, they play the next 13 days before another off-day on April 22. Pivetta had been scheduled to start on Wednesday, but because of the off-day, the Red Sox can move up their starters and keep them on normal rest, meaning Saturday is the first day they’ll need an extra starter. Kutter Crawford will now start on Wednesday.

As for options to replace Pivetta’s spot in the rotation, Breslow named long man Chase Anderson, Triple-A starter Cooper Criswell and recently acquired Naoyuki Uwasawa as possibilities.

Uwasawa, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays just before the season began, had been in extended spring training, but according to a team source, Uwasawa will be activated by Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday and is scheduled to pitch.

For a day that started with promise, the Red Sox left Fenway facing more adversity and an uphill battle without two of its key players.

(Photo: Maddie Malhotra / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)