Rolled ankle won't keep Pierzynski out of action

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Moments after hitting a single up the middle in the top of the seventh inning in Monday's 7-6 loss to the Pirates, A.J. Pierzynski rolled his left ankle retreating back to first base.

He exited for a pinch-runner, but the catcher shouldn't miss any time.

"If I had to play tomorrow, I'd be fine," Pierzynski said. "It was the same thing I did earlier. I just kind of rolled it a little bit. When you first do it, it just hurts like [heck], and then it kind of gets better as the day goes on."

Pierzynski wasn't scheduled to play Tuesday's home game anyway, and he was also slated to stay back in Fort Myers, Fla., on Wednesday and Thursday, when the Red Sox have games in Jupiter.

The good news from the day was that Pierzynski found his hitting stroke, going 2-for-3 with a double.

"Better today," said Pierzynski. "I was joking with [hitting coach Greg Colbrunn] today -- it was the first day I felt like I knew how to hit in BP all spring. It was nice that it carried over into the game. It was a good day of work. Hopefully I'll continue to build off of it."