NEW YORK -- The original plan had Brock Holt playing a second rehab game for Triple-A Pawtucket and then rejoining the Red Sox on Wednesday. But the club instead decided to activate the veteran utilityman for Tuesday's opener of a three-game series in New York.
In a corresponding roster move, Tzu-Wei Lin was optioned to Pawtucket.
Holt played six innings at shortstop for Pawtucket on Monday in a game played at Lehigh Valley, going 1-for-3. The Pawtucket coaching staff, led by Kevin Boles, relayed to Red Sox manager Alex Cora that Holt seemed ready to be activated.
"He felt great," said Cora. "Running around at short, running the bases. As you know, we have [Eduardo Nunez] playing second. We can use [Holt] from the bench. It's going to help us throughout the week to give guys an off-day. The feedback was great, so we decided to put him on the roster."
Before suffering a left hamstring injury on April 26, Holt was red-hot at the plate, hitting .471 in his previous 34 at-bats.
Xander Bogaerts recently returned from a broken bone in his left foot, and he should be able to get more rest now that Holt is back.