BOSTON - The Red Sox return to action on Sunday in hopes of sweeping the Mariners. And for the seventh straight game, Hanley Ramirez will not be joining them.
Ramirez is out of Sunday's lineup as he continues to deal with a sore left foot after fouling a ball off of it.
Torey Lovullo gave an update on Ramirez before Sunday's game.
"Hanley is doing OK. He's improving every day, getting closer," Lovullo said. "He's such a finely-tuned athlete, that's the type of body that we're dealing with here that when something is a little off it takes a little time to make sure that everything is OK before he goes back in there. He's going to run though a series of tests today indoors much like he did yesterday. We're looking to get him outdoors tomorrow, test it a little bit more and see where he's at. But it's getting closer and we feel comfortable saying that his return could be close."
Ramirez wasn't the only one out of the lineup, as Pablo Sandoval will sit after getting hit in the right elbow on Saturday.
"Pablo came in today a little cranky with that elbow," Lovullo said. "Everything was negative yesterday. All the tests that were done, negative. So he's OK. But I think he's a little swollen. We took it out of his hands. We just thought here's a guy that got hit pretty good and is dealing with a little bit of discomfort, so instead of forcing him to get out there we just said take the day-to-day and we'll see where you're at tomorrow."
Brock Holt will play third base on Sunday in place of Sandoval and Josh Rutledge takes over at second base.