Bo is back. But he could be gone again for another few days.
Bo Jackson made his long-awaited and much-ballyhooed return to baseball Wednesday as the starting designated hitter for the “visiting team” in the Sox’s first intrasquad game.
He saw six pitches. He took two, fouled off two and grounded out twice before leaving the game with a tender hamstring. “I am nursing a sore right hamstring,” he said. “It wouldn’t make sense for somebody to risk serious injury.”
Trainer Herm Schneider said Jackson could miss Thursday’s exhibition opener against Pittsburgh but stressed that the injury was minor and unrelated to his hip-replacement surgery last April.
In his first at-bat, against Alex Fernandez in the first inning, Jackson bounced out to third baseman Robin Ventura. Two innings later, against hard-throwing prospect Rob Ellis, he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
Jackson said he was pleased “just to make contact.”
`Milestone’: The first hit went to Matt Merullo, who laced a single to right off Ellis in the second inning. But Merullo had little time to celebrate: Right-fielder Dan Pasqua threw him out trying to stretch the single into a double.
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Pasqua was 2 for 2 with a walk, andWarren Newson was 2 for 3. Left-hander Chuck Cary, a non-roster invitee who played in Japan last year, pitched one scoreless inning for each team. Most impressive pitcher was Fernandez, who worked one perfect inning, striking out two.
Still talking: GM Ron Schueler is still busy trying to trade for another starting pitcher. “The phone calls have picked up lately,” he said. “I still think everybody wants to see their clubs for four or five days. And we want to see if, maybe, we have the answer with one of the guys we have in camp already.”
Good PR: Carlton Fisk got the spring’s first ovation less than two hours after he reported. It happened when a youngster standing behind a fence politely asked for an autograph. Fisk walked over and handed the boy one of the two black bats he had just used in the batting cage. That brought applause from a few dozen fans as Fisk walked away.
Thinking ahead: Schueler is ready. Sitting on a shelf in his office is a souvenir Sox cap neatly embroidered with the words: “World Series Champions 1993.”
Aches and pains: The flu bug is starting to creep through the clubhouse. Three players-Wilson Alvarez, Clemente Alvarez and Lance Johnson-missed Wednesday with fever. Tim Raines said he felt bad but didn’t have a fever, so he took part in the workouts. Pitcher Ramon Garcia, who has been bothered by a tender elbow, threw for 15 minutes after being given a shot to numb the pain.
On the mound: Wilson Alvarez, a lefty, had been scheduled to start Thursday’s game before he got the flu. Manager Gene Lamont said he phoned his old friend, Pirates manager Jim Leyland, to tell him he would be making a change: “I had to tell him I was switching from a lefty to a (yet-to-be-named) righty. I didn’t want him to think I was trying to trick-bag him.”