BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox placed designated hitter David Ortiz on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right Achilles tendon before last night’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
“He had a second opinion, which concurred with the first opinion, which led us to put him on the 15-day disabled list,’’ Sox manager Bobby Valentine said before last night’s game against the Chicago White Sox. “It’s probably going to be a week to 10 days before he’s ready to go and take a little batting practice. We’ll give him a little extra time on the outside, so he’s ready to go when he comes off (the DL).’’
Ortiz suffered the injury when he was rounding second base on Adrian Gonzalez’s three-run homer in the eighth inning of Monday night’s 5-1 victory over the White Sox and stepped on the bag awkwardly. After Gonzalez’s hit cleared the wall, Ortiz was forced to limp home and into the Sox dugout.
“He has a right strained heel, Achilles’ attachment type thing,’’ Valentine said. “It’s something he’s had before.’’
Mauro Gomez was called up from Pawtucket to fill Ortiz’s spot on the roster and was penciled in at DH, hitting out of the No. 6 position, for yesterday’s game against the White Sox.
“It seemed like he was the guy who was going to fill the bill,’’ Valentine said of Gomez, who made six straight starts with the Red Sox from July 4-13, making five straight starts at third base from July 4-8. It was Gomez’s first Major League starts and first pro appearances at the position since 2009.
Gomez hit safely in 4 of 6 starts, including three multi-hit efforts. This marked his third stint with the Red Sox.
“And we had no backup, once David left, we really had no backup first baseman,’’ Valentine said.
In other news:
Valentine said Clay Buchholz, who was set to make his second start tonight since coming off the DL (stomach ailment) after the All-Star break, will not be limited by a pitch count.
Asked what he hoped Jon Lester would work on after absorbing the loss in Tuesday night’s 7-5 setback, Valentine said: “He’s thrown the ball pretty well, I think. As I mentioned before, I think a lot of his situation is just those balls that are put in play. They have to start finding a glove once in a while.’’
Valentine reported that closer Andrew Bailey, who had been projected to return sometime after the All-Star break after undergoing thumb surgery and starting the season on the DL, had thrown in the bullpen. “The last 10 days he’s felt as good as he’s felt in a long time. He’s probably not far from pitching to some hitters.’’
Valentine on Daniel Bard’s progress in Pawtucket: “Each game it seems he’s coming out of it with something that he can hold onto.’’
Valentine on the expected return of Dustin Pedroia for tonight’s game: “Yeah, he said he was ready about four days ago. We’re getting planned, but you never know until tomorrow comes. He’s such an important part of our team and so much fun to watch play; for his psyche as well as for ours, I hope he gets back in tomorrow.’’
Valentine on where Pedroia will slide into the lineup: “I don’t know that we’ll have a lineup everyday that’s the same, since we haven’t had a lineup that’s the same every day since the beginning of the year and we’re leading the league in runs scored — well, we’re one behind Texas coming into today. I don’t think you need to worry about where someone is hitting in the lineup. We’ll try to get as good a lineup as we can every day we go out there.’’
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