Ortiz admitted he was at fault after losing control of his Audi R8 after he stopped to get gas at the Shell station on the corner of Boylston and Ipswich streets.

“I must have hit some button that was for the back traction [control], and once I took off, it started asking more [power], something crazy,’’ Ortiz said. “I lost a little bit of control and hit this lady.’’

Ortiz said his car spun several times on Boylston Street and sideswiped the driver’s side door of an unidentified 48-year-old female motorist, who had a younger female passenger in the back and was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection. .

“It was a lady and a little girl and I just wanted to make sure that they were fine, and everything was fine,’’ said Ortiz.

No one was hurt, and there was only minor damage to both vehicles, according to a preliminary Boston Police report.

Ortiz was cited for making an improper left turn.

“It wasn’t anything bad,’’ said Ortiz, who didn’t let the mishap keep him from playing against the Indians.

“She was fine. I’m OK. These are fixable things.’’

The motorist didn’t seem to recognize Ortiz when he got out of his car.

“I don’t think so,’’ Ortiz said. “But she might now that you guys are talking to me.’’

Ortiz was 1 for 3 with a walk before leaving the game in the seventh inning because of a sore left heel. His status is day to day.

Continuing story

Manager Bobby Valentine was peppered with questions before Friday night’s game about Josh Beckett’s recent golf outing and whether it constituted offday conduct unbecoming of a pitcher who was scratched from a start because a sore right latissimus.

“I don’t think I’m making a determination on what people do on their offdays, unless it affects the performance of them on the field,’’ said Valentine.

“It seems that he was healthy when he played [golf] and it seemed like it didn’t hurt him. It’s very tough for a manager to start legislating what guys do away from the park.’’

Matsuzaka on hill

Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his fourth rehab start Saturday night at 6:05 when Triple A Pawtucket hosts Columbus.

Matsuzaka has allowed four earned runs in 13 1/3 innings in his three previous rehab starts, one each with Single A Salem, Double A Portland, and Pawtucket.

“I’d say he’s very close,’’ Valentine said of Matsuzaka’s return from the disabled list. “He’s done everything except string innings together . . . If there’s a checklist, he’s checked off a lot of things. Now he has to string those innings together.’’

Valentine said Kevin Youkilis, who went on the 15-day DL May 2 (retroactive to April 29) because a lower-back strain, began baseball activities Friday.

“He played catch,’’ Valentine reported. “He’s not swung [a bat] yet. Talking to him yesterday, he seemed like he could swing a bat.’’

Podsednik acquired

The Red Sox obtained 36-year-old outfielder Scott Podsednik from the Phillies for cash considerations.

He was hitting .203 for Triple A Lehigh Valley. A veteran of 10 major league seasons with six teams, Podsednik has not been in the majors since 2010 when he played 39 games for the Dodgers.

He is a career .279 hitter with 301 steals. Podsednik was assigned to Triple A Pawtucket..

A short respite

Shortstop Mike Aviles did not start. “A well-deserved day off,’’ Valentine said. “With all the games we’re playing [20 in a row], I wanted to try and get him a day somewhere in the middle of it.’’ Aviles, however, entered the game in the seventh inning after Darnell McDonald pinch hit for Ortiz. Valentine also gave center fielder Marlon Byrd the night off. “He’s been playing an awful lot, too,’’ said the manager, who started Nick Punto at shortstop and Ryan Sweeney in center field. It marked Sweeney’s first start of the season in center. He went 2 for 5 out of the leadoff spot.

Pedroia’s streak at 12

It didn’t take Dustin Pedroia long to extend the league’s longest active hitting streak to 12 games, doing so in his first at-bat. The second baseman reached on an infield hit after his bat slipped out of his hands and helicoptered toward third baseman Jack Hannahan . . . Punto snapped an 0-for-19 streak in his first at-bat when he hit a sharp leadoff single to center off Ubaldo Jimenez in the second . . . The Red Sox scored their first five runs on doubles by Will Middlebrooks (first inning), Pedroia (second), and Cody Ross (fifth), before Sweeney, who is tied with Ortiz for the most doubles (12) in the American League, snapped the streak with an RBI single in the fifth, making it 7-1 . . . Although he was unable to make it for Fenway’s 100th anniversary celebration last month, Fred Lynn was warmly greeted by the crowd when he was recognized in the bottom of the third inning . . . Henry Mahegan, a former Red Sox media relations assistant, handled the public address announcements Friday night. The history and civics teacher at Charlestown High was the first to draw the interim assignment after the death of Carl Beane Wednesday.

Peter Abraham of the Globe staff contributed. Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.