Red Sox sign 1B Nathaniel Lowe, place OF Rob Refsnyder on IL

The Boston Red Sox officially signed free agent first baseman Nathaniel Lowe on Monday and recalled third baseman Nate Eaton from Triple-A Worcester.
To make room on the roster, the Red Sox designated catcher Ali Sanchez for assignment, while outfielder Rob Refsnyder was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain. The IL move was retroactive to Friday.
Lowe, 30, had been placed on waivers Saturday by the Washington Nationals after they designated him for assignment Thursday.
The left-handed hitter batted just .216 but was second on the Nationals with 68 RBIs and tied for second with 16 homers. He had 130 strikeouts in 440 at-bats and was just 3-for-33 (.091) over 10 games this month.
Boston had been playing a platoon of veterans Abraham Toro (a switch hitter) against right-handed starting pitchers and Romy Gonzalez against left-handers since starting first baseman Triston Casas ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee in May.
Eaton, 28, played 14 games with the Red Sox earlier this season and batted .250 with two doubles. He is a .208 hitter with one home run and 14 RBIs in parts of three different major league seasons.
Sanchez, 28, played his lone game with the Red Sox on Tuesday. He was selected off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this month.
Refsnyder, 34, is batting .272 with six home runs and 22 RBIs in 54 games for the Red Sox this season. He is a career .255 hitter with 30 home runs and 146 RBIs over 525 games in 10 seasons with six different clubs.
The Red Sox also announced Monday that right-handed pitcher Tanner Houck underwent successful surgery to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.
Houck, who hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since May 12 and had a failed rehab assignment, will miss the rest of this season and possibly all of 2026.