BALTIMORE (AP) -David Ortiz sat in front of his locker, his ailing left wrist heavily bandaged. Ortiz wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, and the designated hitter could only hope his injury was a minor setback.
Ortiz sprained his left wrist Saturday night while swinging at a pitch in Boston’s 6-3 win over Baltimore. He left for a pinch hitter with the count full.
“It feels the same,” Ortiz said Sunday morning. “We’ll see what the doctors say. I got to get an MRI.”
Ortiz had missed only four games before Sunday. He is batting .252 and leads the Red Sox with 13 homers and 43 RBIs.
The Red Sox need him in the lineup, but the immediate plan was to give him some rest and hope the injury heals. He was informally listed as day to day.
“We’ll see how it feels tomorrow,” said John Blake, the team’s vice president of media relations.
Bench coach Brad Mills, serving as manager while Terry Francona attended the graduation of his daughter, used Manny Ramirez at DH on Sunday. Ramirez hit his 500th home run on Saturday night.
Ramirez could probably use the break after becoming the 24th major leaguer to enter the coveted 500 club.
“I’m just happy that it’s over with,” Ramirez said Saturday.
On Sunday, however, Ramirez remained a hot topic in the Red Sox clubhouse.
“To witness 500 is special. It’s neat to be a part of history like that,” leadoff hitter Jason Ellsbury said. “Manny is a good teammate. He’s fun to be around and fun to have in the clubhouse.”
Ellsbury grew up in the Pacific Northwest as a fan of the Mariners and Ken Griffey, Jr., but he remembers when Ramirez played for the Cleveland Indians.
“I had a Manny Ramirez rookie card,” Ellsbury said. “I knew of Manny from his rookie season.”
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