After being sidelined for nearly four months due to injury, Roman Anthony and Trevor Story will return to the Red Sox for Sunday’s series finale in New York.

But given how well the club has played in their absence the Red Sox were going to have some tough decisions to make when the time came, and two key contributors to that success wound up being the odd men out.

The Red Sox optioned Mickey Gasper and Anthony Seigler to Triple-A Worcester to clear space for the returning Anthony and Story.

Left-hander Raymond Burgos, who was brought in as the 27th man for Saturday’s doubleheader, was also returned to Worcester.

Gasper and Seigler have both been valuable contributors since being called up to the majors, though their playing time figured to be most impacted by Anthony and Story’s return. Gasper had served as a platoon bat in the designated hitter spot with Jahmai Jones ever since Masataka Yoshida went down with a hamstring strain on Aug. 15, and Seigler spent large portions of the summer as Boston’s leadoff hitter and starting second baseman before Nick Sogard took over both roles.

Gasper has been white hot ever since his return to the majors, batting .423 with five home runs, 12 RBI and a 1.710 OPS in 11 games. Seigler has continued to produce in limited action, batting .257 with a .772 OPS in 15 games over the course of August.

Anthony and Story figure to immediately slot back into their starting roles as leadoff left fielder/DH and shortstop respectively.

Prior to suffering a sprained right hand on May 4 Anthony had gotten off to an underwhelming start, batting .229 with one home run and a .675 OPS through 30 games. The 22-year-old has often looked much more like his usual self throughout his rehab assignment, going 7 for 25 (.280) with two home runs and two doubles in eight games with the Portland Sea Dogs and WooSox.

Story struggled badly earlier in the season, grading among the worst full-time position players in MLB both offensively and defensively. He batted .206 with three home runs and a .547 OPS in 41 games, though it later came to light that he spent the entire first quarter of the season playing through a sports hernia that likely contributed to his poor performance.

Story went 6 for 35 (.171) with a double, one walk and 11 strikeouts in 10 rehab games with the WooSox, though he did finish on a strong note by going 1 for 3 with the double on Saturday.