Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz returned to the team’s lineup Friday after missing more than a month with an Achilles injury.
He went 2-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBI, but that might be his last game action of 2012. Mark Daniels of the Boston Herald writes:
… he aggravated the injury after hitting a double in the third inning. With 34 games left in a lost season, it doesn’t make much sense for the free agent-to-be to risk further damage.
“We’re talking about (shutting it down) because I just can’t really play like this. I don’t want to be thinking about my foot while I’m facing the opposition, which is what happened to me after I hit that double the other night,” Ortiz said. “My last two at-bats, instead of just focusing on seeing the ball and hitting, I’m thinking about how much is it going to react once I take off running. We’re talking to the doctors and we’re going to have some decisions . . . or whatever just to see how we’re going to approach this.”
As noted, Ortiz is a free agent after this season, and given the shedding of contracts in the massive Red Sox/Dodgers trade Friday, it’s no certainty that Ortiz will be asked to return at age 37 in 2013; he might have played his last game for the Red Sox.
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