BOSTON — No rehab assignment, no timing concerns for
David Ortiz.
After missing more than a month with an Achilles injury, the
Red Sox' designated hitter drilled the first pitch out of Royals starter Bruce
Chen's hand — an 87-mph sinker — for a two-run double that sparked the Red
Sox to a 4-3 win Friday.
The at-bat offered optimism moving forward, but Ortiz
nixed that notion when he admitted lingering pain.
"I'm still having issues with my foot," Ortiz
said. "After I hit that double on the second at-bat, the next thing I
think about is how my heel is going to react. It got into my head a little bit.
It's getting sore, so we'll see how it goes the next couple of days.
"I want to give it a try and see how it feels,
especially seeing the team and how things were going and having issues with the
offense."
Upon rifling his two-run single in the first inning,
Ortiz was visibly favoring his foot as he hustled to first base and walked gingerly the rest of the game. He still finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs
to lift his batting average to .318.
By driving in the two runs, Ortiz raised his season RBI total to 60, trailing just Adrian Gonzalez and Cody Ross for the team lead.
In the process, Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
"He looked like a sight for sore eyes," manager Bobby Valentine said. "He proved that you didn't need a rehab assignment. We
must have pretty good [batting practice] pitchers to simulate Bruce Chen's slider and fastball.
But it's very impressive. David is world class. World-class players can do
special things."
We'll see if that includes playing through the pain.
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