MLB PLAYER NEWS

Pedroia expected back in Red Sox starting lineup Wednesday

The Sports Xchange

April 16, 2014 at 2:20 am.

Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO — He wanted to start Tuesday night against the Chicago White Sox, but Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia had to settle for coming in late Tuesday in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

The plan was to get one more day for a cortisone shot in his inflamed left wrist to take effect, but first baseman Mike Napoli dislocated his finger sliding into second in the ninth and needed to leave the game. Pedroia, who ran for Napoli, stayed in the game to play the field.

Pedroia, who had an MRI done on the wrist in Boston during the Red Sox’s off-day Monday, is expected to rejoin the starting lineup Wednesday after no fractures were discovered.

“We fully expect him to be back in the lineup (Wednesday),” Boston manager John Farrell said. “He fought tooth-and-nail to be in there tonight, but we felt like after the injection (Monday), another day of just some treatment and laying low a little bit was probably the best course at this point.”

Pedroia was injured April 4 in the Red Sox’s home opener when he landed on the wrist after the Milwaukee Brewers’ Carlos Gomez slid into him attempting to bust up a double play. Pedroia, who made a habit of playing through various injuries, put up with the discomfort as long as possible. It eventually started to affect his performance, as he went 5-for-36 following the injury.

Finding out a shot to relieve inflammation was all that he likely needed was a welcome relief to the scrappy veteran, who become one of the faces of the Red Sox. Last season he played through a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb, which required surgery in the offseason.

“I was getting a little bit worried,” Pedroia said. “It was getting worse every day. It happens. I get out taken out (at second base) every day. It’s part of my job, so it’s just part of the deal. I’m still obviously doing rehab on my thumb stuff. They wanted to get it checked out and make sure everything’s fine.”

Turned out that everything was OK, which is great news for the Red Sox.

“It’s inflammation in an area in my wrist,” Pedroia said. “Basically with my rehab stuff with my thumb, there’s just a spot where I got caught in a weird angle when I got taken out. Everything got inflamed. You keep swinging and playing and it just adds up until you think something is really wrong.”