CHICAGO -- Ryan Sweeney played through the pain, knowing that the Red Sox, already short of outfielders because of injuries, couldn't afford to lose another body.
But Saturday night, after a particularly tough at-bat, he gave in to the obvious: he couldn't continue to play any longer with an injury to his left toe.
Sweeney was placed on the disabled list Sunday with an injured sesamoid bone -- a bone imbedded in a tendon directly under his big left toe -- as the Sox promoted Ryan Kalish from Pawtucket to take his place on the roster.
"It's on my back foot," explained Sweeney, "so when I swing, I'm kind of out of front of everything right now because I can't sit on my back side. It's not fair to the team for me to go out there and not be productive."
The numbers reflect Sweeney's struggles. Since the beginning of this road trip, Sweeney was just 2-for-15.
In the field, it's had less of an effect.
"I try not to think about it when I'm out there running," he said. "But then it hurts after I get down running. I'd like to say it didn't affect me. I got lucky -- I haven't had a lot of balls (hit to him) the last couple of days. But playing center field and having to cover a lot of ground. You have to try to get what you can, but sometimes, you're limited."
Boston Red Sox
Sweeney said the condition has been "hurting for three weeks at least, but it's been pretty bad (lately)."
He plans to get a cortisone shot Monday, then will probably be shut down for while until the soreness subsides.
"Hopefully, it will then feel better when I run," said Sweeney. "If it doesn't I don't know where we'll go from there. I had it happen in 2005, but it wasn't this bad. It kind of went away and then it would come back once in a while, but not this severe. I don't know if it's one those things where it'll keep coming back. We'll see."