Lowrie, who played three innings at shortstop for the PawSox on Monday and then served as the designated hitter for three at-bats the next day, will head back to Pawtucket to play shortstop again Thursday, perhaps for a full game. He will then play DH one more time before being re-evaluated.
The infielder said there is still some expected soreness in his left shoulder, but nothing alarming. He is pleased with how the rehab has gone so far.
"I was happy with the way I saw the ball after not playing for five, six weeks and jumping in and facing a guy with good stuff the first day," he said. "I was happy with that. First two days, after five at-bats, [the shoulder] felt fine."
The Red Sox currently are carrying 13 pitchers. Mike Aviles is the lone reserve infielder and Darnell McDonald is the only backup in the outfield. Aviles will be mixed into the outfield rotation in the coming days, but there will be a need for one more body very soon.
That being said, Lowrie is not quite ready yet, and he has already learned the lesson of coming back from an injury too soon. He tried to play through a wrist injury to begin 2009, but it eventually required surgery. Then, he came back at a time when he may not have been 100 percent and needed to head back to the minors for a month.
"Definitely, that was a tough year," he said. "Really the end of 2008 and most of 2009 after the surgery, I probably rushed back from both of those and it was a valuable lesson."
In other injury-related news, right-handed reliever Bobby Jenks threw from 60 feet two days ago and felt great, according to manager Terry Francona. However, he showed up the next day and his troublesome back was just "OK," prompting the team to take a step back.
"Tried to figure out if it was from doing too much lifting or from the throwing," Francona said. "We just keep kind of going back and forth. It's probably not coming as quick as everyone would like, including himself.
"He got that cortisone shot before we left [for Chicago] and it felt good, hit the spot and he was really excited about it. We'll keep testing it every day and see how he's doing."
