NEW YORK — Right on the eve of the postseason, the Red Sox pitching staff appears to have suffered a big blow.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced Monday that right-hander Lucas Giolito will not be on the club’s AL Wild Card roster due to an elbow issue.

Instead, Giolito flew to Alabama to see Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, who performed his internal brace surgery on his pitching elbow in the spring of 2024.

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“Lucas isn’t going to be on the roster, he’s been battling with his elbow the last few days and today he went to see Dr. Dugas,” Cora told reporters in New York prior to the club’s playoff workout. “Hopefully it’s nothing major but he won’t be ready for this one.”

Giolito was originally lined up to start Game 3 of the upcoming series against the Yankees following Garrett Crochet in Game 1 and Brayan Bello in Game 2. Dustin May, who was acquired at the trade deadline to provide additional starting pitcher depth but who has been out since Sept. 6 with right elbow neuritis, is also not expected to be ready to return for the series, leaving young left-handers Connelly Early and Kyle Harrison as the most likely candidates.

“We’ll go the first two games and then we’ll decide,” Cora said. “Obviously we’ve got some kids over there that have started lately, but first things first, Crochet and Bello, and if we have to make a decision for Game 3, we’ll go from there.”

Giolito missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing internal brace surgery on his right elbow, and this season has represented an impressive return to form for the veteran right-hander. Giolito made 26 starts and posted a 3.41 ERA over 145 innings, but recently he’s struggled with his command, walking three or more batters in six of his last nine starts.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Giolito’s elbow issue came on gradually.

“He felt like kind of fatigued and wasn’t recovering quite as well and didn’t really raise a ton of alarms with the medical staff, he felt pretty confident he’d be ready,” Breslow said. “But then gradually the symptoms got worse and worse to the point that it’s become an issue.”

Breslow said they didn’t believe Giolito was trying to pitch through an injury and they could have flagged it earlier if that was a concern. He said a pitcher not recovering as well between starts in late September compared to earlier in the season isn’t necessarily a surprise, but by Sunday things were trending in a way where they needed to take a closer look.

Breslow also said it’s too early to tell whether or not Giolito could be available for future playoff rounds if the Red Sox advance.

“I think at this point just collecting information to figure out and we’ll make a decision from there,” Breslow said.