BOSTON -- After intimating yesterday that injured left fielder Andrew Benintendi would likely be activated for Wednesday's series finale against Baltimore, Red Sox manager John Farrell instead pulled the trigger a day early, telling reporters at his pregame news conference the rookie will be active for tonight's game.
"After yesterday's work, it became maybe a little more apparent he'd be ready to go today, or at least be available," Farrell said. "Brock [Holt] is still dealing with a little bit of a shoulder issue after the slide and tag from [Toronto's Edwin] Encarnacion the other day."
The promising 22-year-old twisted his left knee and collapsed in the dirt while trying to avoid a tag in Boston's loss to Tampa Bay on Aug. 24, which looked far worse than the diagnosis. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a knee injury.
"At the time, we didn't realize how severe the ankle turn was," Farrell said. "Which in hindsight, from what we've gathered, might have softened the blow to the knee, so we're fortunate it wasn't worse than what it was."
Benintendi cleared his last physical test, sliding, before yesterday's game. He faced live pitching in a simulated game this afternoon, which Farrell said was "more about just getting his timing down."
"The true test was sliding, but I had no problem at all," Benintendi said.
Given the logjam created in left by Chris Young's red-hot run (.450 so far in September), it's unclear how long it'll be before Benintendi makes his next start. He said he hasn't talked with Farrell yet about the plan, "but I'm sure we will."
Benintendi will be wearing a knee brace, but he says there are no restrictions right now, "and I don't think there will be [going forward]."
The Red Sox's 2015 first-round draft pick and former Baseball America College Player of the Year made his impact almost immediately upon getting called up from Double-A Portland on Aug. 2. In 21 games, Benintendi hit .324/.365/.485 with six doubles, one homer and 10 RBIs. He also wowed fans with an acrobatic leaping catch to rob Tampa Bay's Steven Souza Jr. of a surefire dinger on Aug. 23 at Tropicana Field -- one day before the knee injury that sent him to the DL.