Major League Baseball

Boston's Crawford plays in first rehab game

Published Jul. 16, 2011 3:20 a.m. ET

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Carl Crawford tested his strained left hamstring in his first rehabilitation game, going 1 for 2 while playing five innings Friday for Triple-A Pawtucket. Crawford batted third and played left field. He had a broken-bat RBI single to center in the first inning, walked in the third and grounded into a fielder's choice in the fifth. ''The most important thing was being able to break out of the box like I normally can to be able to move quickly without worrying about my hamstring,'' Crawford said after playing five innings. ''I had a few moments tonight where I was able to test it.''

One moment occurred in the third after Crawford drew a one-out walk and Ryan Lavarnway followed with a hit-and-run single.

''That felt good,'' Crawford said. ''That was a time I had chance to test it. I also had a chance to test it in the outfield.''

Crawford was placed on Boston's disabled list June 18, a day after getting hurt while beating out an infield hit against Milwaukee.

Crawford only played five innings because Boston didn't want to push him.

''We're just trying to get my legs back under me right now,'' he said. ''We didn't see the need to play nine innings. As long as I was able to do a few things that I can do when I'm in the big leagues, we thought that's all I need to do.''

He's scheduled to play another rehab game Saturday night before joining Boston in Baltimore on Monday.

The speedy left-fielder the Red Sox gave a $142 million, seven-year free-agent contract is batting just .243 with only eight steals. But since hitting .155 in April, he's batting .295.

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