"His left side of his rib cage there," manager Terry Francona said of the point of impact. "He was sore when he went down and he was sore when he got up and he was sore when he came in."
Ellsbury was sent for X-rays.
As we await the results of those tests we turn our attention to Minnesota, where the Sox will be the opponent in the first regular-season game at Target Field on Monday. Jon Lester gets the start for Boston. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. and NESN will carry you through all of the action.
Final, Red Sox 8-6: A scary play for the Sox for the second straight game, this time with a violent collision between Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Beltre.
The two were chasing a pop in foul territory down the line in left when Ellsbury went into a slide and Beltre's knee nailed the left fielder in the side. He was removed from the game and replaced by J.D. Drew, who went in to right. Bill Hall moved to left.
Remember, Josh Beckett took a line drive off his head in Saturday night's contest. Fortunately he was fine. We hope that is the case with Ellsbury, as well.
After the long delay, Jonathan Papelbon gets Mitch Maier to fly to Drew and then Alberto Callaspo on a fly to center to nail down his second save.
Boston takes two of three in the weekend series and moves on to Minnesota, where Jon Lester will take the mound at Target Field on Monday afternoon in the opener of the Twins' new stadium.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 8-6: David Ortiz: 2-for-18 with nine strikeouts. Adrian Beltre: 8-for-20 with two whiffs. They are next to each other in the Red Sox lineup but not on the same page early in the season.
After Ortiz strikes out for the fourth time, Beltre gets a two-out single but is stranded at first. Jonathan Papelbon time.
End 8th, Red Sox 8-6: Ramon Ramirez gives up single, single, home run. Daniel Bard goes strikeout, groundout, pop out. It brings us into the ninth with the Sox up two and offers up a potential save opportunity for Jonathan Papelbon.
5:06 p.m.: In a tale of two relievers who struggled in the second half last year, Manny Delcarmen looks strong while Ramon Ramirez offers up more of the same struggles.
Ramirez, whose ERA jumped each month in 2009, gives up a three-run homer without getting an out in the eighth before being pulled.
I believe we are getting Daniel Bard for the fifth time in six games.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 8-3: Dustin Pedroia is now 4-for-5 after ripping a single to center in the eighth. He struck out swinging in his first trip to the plate before three singles and a homer.
There were 20 base runners in the first four innings of this one. There have been seven in the last 3 1/2.
End 7th, Red Sox 8-3: Two scoreless innings for Manny Delcarmen. Provided he is past the shoulder issues he had in 2009, expect Delcarmen to have more extended outings like this. He was stretched out to two innings on several occasions during spring training and told reporters he was preparing for a slight change to his role.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 8-3: David Ortiz may have had more of a beef in this one than he did Friday night when he was ejected arguing a third strike. He wasn't pleased after looking at one go by in the seventh but chose to keep his mouth shut.
Still, Ortiz is now 2-for-17 with eight strikeouts. His latest whiff is part of a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.
End 6th, Red Sox 8-3: The Red Sox bullpen had three straight losses on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. For another reliever to get saddled with a loss in this one, we would have to see a pretty major collapse.
Manny Delcarmen comes on in relief of Clay Buchholz and works through the sixth. Jacoby Ellsbury helps him out with a leaping catch against the wall in left.
The final line on Buchholz:
5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Mid 6th, Red Sox 8-3: All of a sudden the offenses have gone silent. Kevin Youkilis hits into a 6-4-3 double play to end the Red Sox' half of the sixth.
End 5th, Red Sox 8-3: It hasn't been pretty, but Clay Buchholz has given himself a chance for a win in his 2010 debut. The velocity has been there all afternoon, but the location of a few fastballs hurt him early.
The Royals have had the leadoff man on in every inning.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 8-3: A double play helps Robinson Tejeda work around a leadoff walk. The Sox have nine hits and five walks through the first five frames.
We may get the final inning for Clay Buchholz here.
End 4th, Red Sox 8-3: There was a minor league game in which Clay Buchholz pitched to get in some work in mid-March down in Fort Myers. In addition to throwing three scoreless innings against Minnesota Twins farmhands, he was forced to make a ton of plays on comebackers and at first base, covering grounders to the right side.
Buchholz made all the plays on defense that day, and he is doing the same against the Royals. He has not been particularly sharp on the mound, but his glove his helping to limit the damage.
Buchholz, who has thrown 85 pitches, has one putout in a long fourth inning before stranding runners on second and third.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 8-3: Yeah, as mentioned, this is a pretty rough Royals bullpen. The Sox have eight runs through four innings and figure to get plenty more before this one is through.
Adrian Beltre delivers the big blow here against reliever Robinson Tejeda with a two-run double.
David Ortiz has now struck out seven times in 16 at-bats this season, including twice in this one with a total of five runners on.
3:34 p.m.: Including the end of the 2009 regular season, Dustin Pedroia has five home runs in his last eight games. His third of the year helps chase Gil Meche in the fourth. Pitching change at Kauffman.
End 3rd, Red Sox 5-3: Victor Martinez has appeared a bit slow out of the crouch and nearly every one of his throws to second has been high this year. He has thrown out 1-of-9 would-be base-stealers. Scott Podsednik gets him for the second time in this one and comes in on a single by Alberto Callaspo.
Callaspo's hit is one of five off Clay Buchholz, who has been extremely busy on the defensive end of things. He has four assists already.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 5-2: Right about the time I typed the words "Gil Meche has nothing to offer today," he began a string of five straight outs, including two on strikeouts with the bases loaded.
Meche may actually be able to take this one through the fourth, which would be a luxury for the Royals after the way things started.
Hope you all plugged your kids' ears on that Bill Hall fly out. Not a nice word uttered there. Hall may have just missed one and let us all know how he felt about it.
End 2nd, Red Sox 5-2: This has the makings of a slugfest. Jose Guillen smacks a solo shot off Clay Buchholz as the Royals get that run right back.
It was a fastball from Buchholz that caught too much of the plate.
For those of you looking ahead to the opener in Target Field, the temperatures will be warm. No worries about any of that arctic air sweeping into the Twin Cities. But there is rain in the forecast for Monday.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 5-1: If you're a Royals fan the last thing you want to see is someone warming in the bullpen with one out in the top of the second inning. But Gil Meche has nothing to offer today and the Sox should be into a struggling K.C. pen in no time.
Boston gets one in the second on a Dustin Pedroia RBI single and Meche throws another 30 pitches. It could've been worse as the Sox had the bases loaded and just one out, but David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre both struck out on breaking balls.
The Royals bullpen has an 11.05 ERA this year, easily the worst in the majors.
By the way, if you're watching at home you might be aware of the guy behind home plate twirling his arms the way that woman at Shea Stadium did 24 years ago. You old timers will recall.
End 1st, Red Sox 4-1: With all due respect to Bill Hall, we warned you of his play at shortstop (see earlier note). In his first appearance at the position in four seasons he lasts one inning before making an error on a pop-up that was clearly Jacoby Ellsbury's ball.
Scott Podsednik scores easily on the play. He had singled to lead things off and moved to second on a steal and third on a grounder.
One might wonder what prompted the decision to give Hall his first start with Clay Buchholz on the mound. Although the error came on a pop-up, Buchholz is a very heavy ground-ball pitcher and has had some confidence issues this spring. Seems to me that you might want the best defensive infield you can offer.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 4-0: We've been telling anyone who would listen that Jeremy Hermida will be a great addition to this club. He is making us look pretty good thus far.
A day after homering in his first start of the 2010 season, Hermida hammers a two-run double to cap a four-run rally in the first off Gil Meche.
It all started with Jacoby Ellsbury singling to lead off the game for the third time in this series. He stole second right away and scored the first run on an RBI single by Victor Martinez. Another run came in on Adrian Beltre's base hit with two down.
Meche was throwing extremely hard, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He threw 35 pitches and, coming off the disabled list with a bum right shoulder, he does not figure to get too many more innings under his belt. And the Royals bullpen is a mess.
Today is Jason Varitek's 38th birthday. Too bad his two home runs came last night.
1:55 p.m.: When Gil Meche steps to the mound in a few minutes, he'll likely be thinking about how to attack three particular Red Sox batters who have dominated him in the past.
Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz are a combined 22-for-48 (.458) with five home runs and 15 RBI against the Royals righty.
1:10 p.m.: We have word that J.D. Drew is being held out of the lineup due to a stiff neck. He had played the first five games of the season, so this is about time to sit him. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, it's actually how the Red Sox view the Drew situation.
I'm paraphrasing here, but it was in mid-March when manager Terry Francona said the goal with Drew is to play him enough so that he contributes but not so much that he breaks down. The club expects that stiff necks and the like will cost Drew 20-30 games a year and just hopes that the days off yield positive results the days he is in.
Drew has played an average of 129 games a year in a Red Sox uniform. Jeremy Hermida, his replacement Sunday, will see 20-30 starts in right in 2010.
On another note, keep your eyes on Bill Hall. He is making his season debut at shortstop, a position at which Hall does not excel. A valuable chip for the many positions he can play, Hall is a more capable defender at some other spots and has not played shortstop in a regular season game since 2006.
There was a game this spring in which Hall made two errors at shortstop. He has a lifetime .965 fielding percentage and 37 errors in 261 games at the position. This is one of the reasons the club traded for Kevin Frandsen during spring training and is hopeful that Jed Lowrie can return at some point this season. It needs a viable replacement at short.
11:18 a.m.: Here are Sunday's lineups from the Kauff:
Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jeremy Hermida RF
Mike Cameron CF
Bill Hall SS
Royals
Scott Podsednik LF
Mitch Maier RF
Alberto Callaspo 3B
Billy Butler 1B
Rick Ankiel CF
Jose Guillen DH
Jason Kendall C
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Chris Getz 2B
8 a.m.: Clay Buchholz makes his 2010 debut when he faces the Kansas City Royals in the finale of a three-game set in Kauffman Stadium.
The 25-year-old Buchholz, who had an uneven spring, was handed the fifth spot in the Red Sox rotation based largely on how he finished his 2009 campaign.
Upon being called up in July from Triple-A Pawtucket, Buchholz went 7-4 in 16 starts for Boston including a gem at Kansas City on Sept. 24. In a 10-3 win over the Royals, Buchholz threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
The Sox have a chance for their first series win of the season after an 8-3 victory Saturday. Jason Varitek had two of the club's five home runs.
Gil Meche gets the start for Kansas City. First pitch is 2:10 p.m.
