MLB teams
Gordon Edes, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Hanley Ramirez set to rejoin Red Sox after MRI comes back negative

MLB, Boston Red Sox

TORONTO -- Red Sox left fielder Hanley Ramirez was on his way to Toronto on Monday to rejoin the team, manager John Farrell said, after an MRI came back negative.

Ramirez has missed Boston's past five games since being struck in the hand by a line drive off the bat of Xander Bogaerts while running between first and second base Wednesday night. Ramirez, with no outs and two strikes on Bogaerts, was running on his own when Bogaerts' liner struck him.

X-rays and a CT scan administered after the game showed no structural damage or fractures, and Ramirez was listed as day-to-day. But because there was concern, especially on Ramirez's part, at the pace of the healing, the outfielder was sent back to Boston on Sunday from St. Petersburg, Florida, where the Sox were playing the Rays, for more testing.

"[Ramirez] didn't feel completely confident that everything was cleared up in there,'' Farrell said Monday. "But I think the MRI has given him some peace of mind that there's nothing structurally going on. He's dealing with some swelling from the bone bruise and maybe a little bit of residual swelling that's there.''

Farrell said he hoped Ramirez would take some swings in the batting cage Monday. "We're hopeful he begins a hitting progression once he returns,'' Farrell said.

The club could still place Ramirez on the disabled list but have held off on doing so, Farrell said, because he is a middle-of-the-order bat. Veteran Alejandro De Aza, acquired in a trade from Baltimore after he was designated for assignment, has played left field in Ramirez's absence and is batting .400 (6-for-15) with three home runs in four games.

"We'll see how the next day to three days go,'' Farrell said. "The optimistic view is that he'll be back in the lineup while we're here in Toronto."

The Sox opened a four-game set against the Blue Jays on Monday night.

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