Ortiz: 'My hand is not OK'

DAVID ORTIZFirst homer in 20 games (Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)

ARLINGTON, Texas - When David Ortiz smashed a pitch from Brandon McCarthy off the facing of the second deck at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington in yesterday's game against Texas, it marked his first home run in 20 games. It's a stretch in which the slugger has had a high average but lower power numbers.

And it's a stretch that has been marked by a worrisome issue for Ortiz.

Ortiz apparently has had a recurrence of the clicking in his left wrist caused by the tendon sheath he partially tore May 31. While he has not had any pain, Ortiz has had to continue to play through the situation, as there is nothing he can do to rectify it during the season. He first felt the clicking in Kansas City a month ago, soon after he returned from the disabled list.

"Yup, been a while," Ortiz said, of hitting a home run. "I've just had zero luck. Swinging like [expletive]. My hand is not OK. It's still bothering me once in a while, but we're winning so I don't pay attention to it. I keep on trying."

And that's about all that can be done at this point. With Ortiz and the team deciding to let the wrist heal on its own, instead of opting for surgery, Ortiz will have to play through the clicking the rest of this season.

"There is not a doctor that can fix that for now," Ortiz said. "It's just the same thing. On and off. You're feeling good, then you're clicking back. You try not to think about it. Just play. Since I got that thing my whole swing has changed. I mentally try to keep the same approach of going to the plate and not thinking about it. But it's hard, man. It's tough."

Ortiz has hit .326 in his last 24 games. There just hadn't been many home runs. When Ortiz lost that fastball over the fence, it broke a stretch that was tied for his longest without a homer as a Red Sox. He also had gone 70 at-bats without going deep. His last came Aug. 14 against the Rangers at Fenway Park.

And his last on the road? Well, that was much longer. Ortiz had last homered away from home May 31, the game in which he first got injured. That stat is somewhat misleading given that he missed 45 games while on the DL.

It was a two-run shot in the fifth inning, scoring Coco Crisp (walk), and was his second hit of the game after a first-inning single to right field.

"That was a nice swing," manager Terry Francona said. "That came off his bat good."

Hanging with it

As Paul Byrd was describing his effort in yesterday's game, he made sure to laud a play started by Dustin Pedroia in the second that ended the inning. "Pedroia made a great play on a double play ball that [Hank ] Blalock smashed," Byrd said. "Little things like that, they change the course of the game. Sometimes you don't notice that." But it was hard not to notice the play, in which the ball came up on Pedroia. "That's a bad infield," Pedroia said. "This place is like a parking lot out there. It just kind of kicked up on me. I'm just lucky it went in my glove." . . . Crisp continued his hot hitting with two more hits (single, double). He also walked and scored twice. "He's been terrific," Francona said. "Been aggressive on the bases, lefthanded, righthanded. He's been big for us." Over his last five games, Crisp is 12 for 19 (.632). He also now has a nine-game hitting streak.

Getting his work

Jonathan Papelbon pitched the final two outs of the ninth, relieving Chris Smith. Papelbon hadn't pitched since Monday, when he got the save against Baltimore in Boston. Papelbon allowed an inherited runner to score, his fourth of the season . . . Reliever David Aardsma is scheduled to make an appearance in Lowell tomorrow in the second game of the Spinners' postseason series with Batavia. Aardsma will return with the team to Boston, then go on for his rehab assignment. Aardsma has not pitched since Aug. 21 with a strained right groin . . . The Sox called up Devern Hansack to shore up a bullpen that had pitched 10 1/3 innings Friday and Saturday. "Just to give our bullpen some depth if something happened," Francona said. Hansack was 6-10 with a 4.08 ERA for Pawtucket, and threw six hitless innings (one run, two walks, eight strikeouts) to beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 3-1, last Thursday in Game 2 of the PawSox' playoff series . . . The Sox activated Bartolo Colon from the 60-day disabled list and optioned him to Pawtucket so he could start last night against Scranton. Colon threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out three. But Pawtucket ended its season with a 2-0 loss on Shelley Duncan's homer in the 10th . . . Mike Lowell had a scheduled day off, with Kevin Youkilis moving to third and Sean Casey playing first . . . The Red Sox finished the season series against the Texas having dropped just one of 10 games.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.