ST. PETERSBURG -- The Red Sox are hopeful that shortstop Xander Bogaerts can return to the lineup Saturday, but there are no guarantees.
Bogaerts was still in a lot of pain on Friday, a day after he got hit on the right hand by a 92.1-mph fastball and had to leave the game in the bottom of the first inning.
"It's still pretty sore," said Bogaerts. "A lot of improvement from yesterday. Still, it's kind of tough to hold a bat and throw a ball."
Tzu-Wei Lin, who has been a pleasant surprise since his callup from Double-A Portland, started at short on Friday in place of Bogaerts.
"We're hopeful that overnight, another 24 hours of treatment, he'd be back available to us. But he's day to day at this point," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "It's clear he's got some swelling and restriction to the overall strength and comfort when swinging a bat or even throwing a baseball."
Bogaerts said he is fortunate the injury wasn't worse.
"I'm lucky it didn't get me on the bone. It still hurts," he added. "Throwing-wise is pretty tough, to be honest. You probably have to let the hand go, hit it with the one hand. But with the throwing, you can't throw with your left hand or anything, I'm a righty."
Worth noting
• The Red Sox announced the signing of fourth-round Draft pick Jake Thompson, a right-hander from Oregon State University. Thompson will report to Class A Lowell. On Friday's deadline for signing Draft picks, Boston also announced deals with right-handers Aaron Perry (14th round) and Andrew Carber (30th round), outfielder David Durden (20th round) and Tyler Dearden (29th round). In all, Boston signed 32 of its 40 selections, including its first 14 picks.