When Wells will return remains a question

The gathering of information on David Wells's sore right knee is not complete, but an MRI taken yesterday revealed no structural damage, which is good news for the Red Sox.

What that means for a timetable on Wells's return to the mound is unclear.

Manager Terry Francona said the news on Wells, who was struck by a line drive off the bat of the Devil Rays' Travis Lee Friday night, is that he is extremely sore, and walking around with the aid of crutches.

As to whether Wells will need to go on the disabled list, Francona said, ``He has a very good bone bruise there at the very least. What we're going to do is let the medical people work on it. Let them evaluate him. Dr. [Thomas] Gill thinks he'll get a good read on him as to how he responds. So kind of in fairness to David's recovery, we'll hold off and see how he does [today]."

Francona was speaking in positive terms, even throwing out the possibility that Wells wouldn't miss a start.

``I think there's an outside chance he could start, I don't know," said Francona. ``I guess we're still holding on a little bit of hope. I think there's a chance his start would be pushed back a few days, which is still not the worst thing in the world."

Wells was not available for comment either after the game Friday night or yesterday after spending most of the morning at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Who might fill in for Wells if he's not available for his next start?

``We have our first two starters for Toronto already [Matt Clement and Josh Beckett]," said Francona. ``David wasn't scheduled until Wednesday. If it's not David, we will certainly fill that in. But we're not going to do it yet."

The Sox have been scouting righthander Kyle Lohse, whom the Twins demoted to Triple A Rochester May 17. In two starts at Triple A, Lohse is 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA, allowing one earned run in 11 innings with a complete game. Lohse was 2-4 with an 8.92 ERA for the Twins before his demotion.

It's likely the Sox will be cautious with Wells, who pitched very well in his first start since coming off the disabled list, allowing one run in 4 1/3 innings against the Devil Rays.

``The medical people are already working on him pretty feverishly," Francona said. ``We'll take some of the swelling and soreness out of there. [Today] is an important day in the context of how quickly he can pitch. This is a deep bone bruise on a knee that's had a lot of issues. Everything came back negative, which is good."

Wily Mo Peña was a scratch from the lineup last night. It appears Peña is a candidate to be placed on the 15-day disabled list with a painful left wrist, trading places with Coco Crisp, who went 1 for 3 -- a two-run single -- in his Pawtucket debut last night. The PawSox beat the Norfolk Tides, 4-0. Crisp was back in the Sox' locker room late last night and said he was preparing to either play today in the finale against the Devil Rays or tomorrow in Toronto. Peña said the wrist has bothered him for a while, and the pain reached the point while hitting before the game that he told Francona he wasn't able to play. He said he had similar pain last season and needed about five days of rest. Peña is expected to have an MRI tomorrow, which will likely determine his status . . . Francona, who thought Manny Ramírez wouldn't get a day off until the Detroit series next week, decided to give his left fielder yesterday off instead after Ramírez complained of back stiffness. More surprising was who he inserted in left field -- Kevin Youkilis, with J.T. Snow getting a rare start at first base. Francona said when Ramírez informed him of the stiff back he said, ``That's all I need to hear. `You're not playing tonight. This is what we're gonna do.' He came in early getting some treatment. It was probably the right thing to do anyway. Because if we wait too long, that's not what we need. He said he's been battling it for a couple of weeks. We just talked about it and I just took over the decision for him." Francona said he had talked to Youkilis about playing left at the beginning of the season. ``I don't even remember what the circumstances were but I said to him, `Can you play left field?' He said, `Yeah, I don't doubt I could.' We took him out there the other day and made him prove it to us. Especially in Fenway." Youkilis handled a couple of slicing liners well, but made one throw wide of the plate in the second inning.

Righthander David Riske, who was sent home Friday with an illness, returned to the ballpark feeling better and was available to pitch last night . . . The Sox have made one error in the last six games. They entered last night with the fewest errors in the majors (15), seven fewer than the next-best team. The Sox led the majors with a .991 fielding percentage . . . With his 17th straight save Friday, Jonathan Papelbon set a major league rookie record for most consecutive save conversions to start a season. Gregg Olson of the Orioles was successful in his first 16 in 1989. Papelbon made it 18 in a row last night . . . The Sox announced a time change for the game with the Yankees on Friday, Aug. 18, at Fenway Park. The teams are scheduled to play a day-night doubleheader that day. The opener, the makeup of a rainout May 2, will begin at 1:05 p.m. The Sox said to ease congestion between games, the starting time of the regularly scheduled night game has been moved from 7:05 to 8:05 . . . After the game, the Devil Rays placed former Sox lefthander Casey Fossum on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May 25, because of a left groin strain.