Shane Victorino Undergoes Successful Back Surgery in LA

UPDATED AT 10:10 p.m.: During Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox announced that Shane Victorino had undergone successful back surgery and is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

Dr. Robert Watkins performed the lumbar disectomy surgery at Marina Del Ray Hospital in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

12:36 p.m.: More bad news for the Red Sox as another outfielder will be missing from the lineup for the foreseeable future.

The Red Sox announced today that right fielder Shane Victorino will undergo surgery on his lower back today in Los Angeles.

Dr. Robert Watkins will perform the procedure.

Let’s do this. Ready for surgery to take care of the back. See you soon #RedSoxNation! #DoubleShaka pic.twitter.com/mmHB1CtroD

— Shane Victorino (@ShaneVictorino) August 5, 2014

The Gold Glove outfielder left Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays in the fifth inning for what Red Sox manager John Farrell called “precautionary reasons.” He appeared to be dealing with a limp as he ran out a grounder in the bottom of the third inning after feeling a sharp pain in his back.

The 33-year-old Victorino was placed on the 15-day disabled list for the third time this season on Friday. Hamstring and lower back issues landed Victorino on the disabled list for almost two months this season, missing 71 of the team’s first 108 games.

MRI results last week indicated that back surgery could be an option for Victorino, who travelled to Los Angeles to get a second opinion from Dr. Watkins.

“To go get another opinion from Dr. Watkins and see what he has is important to me, I think, to get that next view of things,” Victorino said before Saturday’s game at Fenway. “We kind of have an idea of what’s going to happen, but I hope that it’s not going to be as serious. I’m hoping.”

Victorino had been playing very well since coming off the DL on July 19, hitting .344 in nine games with a home run and two RBIs before the most recent injury.

“It wasn’t the news that we wanted,” Victorino said of the MRI results on Saturday. “Some of the things that were shown were a little more than what we had hoped for — or at least I had hoped for., but I’ll see.”

For the season, Victorino is batting .268 with two homers and 12 RBIs. He has one year remaining on his Red Sox contract and will earn $13 million in 2015.

In other injury news, newly acquired infielder/outfielder Allen Craig is going on the 15-day DL with a left ankle injury.

Boston.com’s Jeff Pini contributed to this story.