Red Sox Roundup: Pedroia Returns, Dice-K Starts & Ohlendorf is a Padre

While the draft took much of the attention on Monday, there was still those awaiting word on Dustin Pedroia and whether he would be heading to the DL or try and play through the torn muscle in his thumb.  We now have our answer.

According to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, a team source informed him that Pedey will indeed return to the Red Sox lineup on Tuesday night  against the Orioles.

Pedroia has missed the last six games with a torn adductor muscle in his thumb and Bradford notes that the injury was originally sustained in the May 2 game against Oakland.  While the original x-rays showed no signs of damage, the all-star second baseman was removed from the Memorial Day game in which a later MRI confirmed the injury.

We’ve heard Pedroia brag about his high pain tolerance and there is no doubting that as he will attempt to play with a special-designed brace for his thumb.  He recently took batting practice in Toronto with the brace on and did not complain of any ill effects.  Come to think of it, even if he did feel pain he likely wouldn’t say anything so he could return to game action on Tuesday.  Sometimes Pedroia’s own worst enemy is himself and let’s hope that he doesn’t further damage his thumb that would require a lengthy DL stint or worse, surgery.

For the record, Pedroia hit .295 with 2 home runs and 13 RBI in 24 games since suffering the injury on May 2.  More compelling however is his last 10 games in which he hit just .225 with only 3 RBI.  Clearly something was wrong.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is set to start tonight for the Pawtucket Red Sox in what could be his last rehab start given the colossal disaster Daniel Bard is turning into with his starting experiment.  In his latest outing, Dice-K allowed one run on two hits in 5.1 innings while striking out four.  Over his last two starts in Pawtucket, Matsuzaka has pitched a combined 10.1 innings, allowed just three hits and given up just the one run. More impressively, opponents are hitting just 0.91 against him and a promotion to the big club could be just days away.  More on the Bard situation later today.

In other Red Sox news, Ross Ohlendorf, former property of the Olde Towne Team was signed to a major league contract by the San Diego Padres on Monday, mere days after he opted out of his contract with the Red Sox when he wasn’t on the major league roster by June 1.  The 29-year-old made ten starts for triple-A Pawtucket and posted  a 4.61 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 52.2 innings.