Victorino to begin Triple-A rehab stint Saturday
Middlebrooks expected to go on rehab assignment middle of next week
BOSTON -- Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino, on the 15-day disabled list since March 31 (retroactive to March 30), went through a full pregame workout before Friday's game against the Orioles at Fenway Park, and is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday.
Manager John Farrell said he wants Victorino to play in back-to-back rehab games before he is activated.
Third baseman Will Middlebrooks, on the 15-day DL since April 5 with a right calf strain, was sent home a day early from Chicago, where the Red Sox completed a three-game set with the White Sox on Thursday, because of the flu.
Middlebrooks was back in the Red Sox clubhouse Friday afternoon. Victorino also had the flu while on the DL, but was away from the team for several days because of the illness.
"[Middlebrooks is] improved," Farrell said. "He wasn't as sick as Vic when we kept him away for about six or seven days. But I don't think this is going to delay Will in his eventual rehab assignment, which we're still hopefully targeting sometime in the middle part of next week."