Rickard pointing to quick return from finger injury

BOSTON - Outfielder Joey Rickard, who injured the middle finger on his left hand while trying to steal a base on Saturday, is optimistic that he'll be ready to come off the 10-day disabled list when eligible on April 19 in Cincinnati.

"That's what we're shooting for," he said. "Things as of right now are looking pretty good. I've already noticed a drastic loss of swelling and all that, so, yeah, I'm feeling pretty confident about it.

"We've made pretty good progress in a short amount of time, so I'm happy about the way things are going."

Rickard sprained the finger on a play that initially was ruled a stolen base before challenged and reversed. He didn't consider it to be anything serious until the following day.

"I just woke up and it was pretty swollen, so I checked with the trainers and they said something's up, so they're just going to start icing it and start progressing. And so far, so good," he said.

The Orioles used Rickard's spot on the 25-man roster to activate left-hander Wade Miley from the disabled list. Rickard had flashbacks to last summer, when a torn ligament in his left thumb ended his season on July 20.

"Yeah, the initial 'not again,' " he said. "It was pretty disappointing at first, but just staying positive and going out there. At least I'm here. I'm not back in Sarasota or anything like that. I'm with my teammates and at the stadium, so it's positive."

Rickard hasn't been cleared for baseball activities. He's receiving treatment and waiting for the next set of instructions.

"I haven't really tried much," he said. "I haven't gripped a bat yet or anything. It's still pretty stiff, but probably in the next couple days here I see myself getting back out there."

With Rickard on the DL, Trey Mancini gets the start tonight in left field against Red Sox southpaw Drew Pomeranz. Mancini is making his second professional appearance in the outfield and his first in left, where he'll confront the Green Monster.

"I found out when I got here today," he said. "I'm just going to treat it like I was playing right field. Obviously, there's a big green wall out there that I've never played before. In spring training, I actually went out in JetBlue and took some in left just in case they put me out there in the regular season. I took a lot of balls off the wall in BP and read balls, so it will be a challenge, but I'm excited for it. This is pretty surreal to be playing out there.

"In my experience in the outfield, I played left and not right. I feel good out there. I'd say it's pretty similar, but it's on the other side of the field. I said, whenever I'm playing right field it was maybe better just because I'd played on that side of the field my whole life and kind of reading the ball off the bat. It's similar.

"In left, I'm just treating it like the same. I'm just on the other side of the field, so I'm trying not to make it a bigger deal than it is."

There's only so much a player can learn from taking balls off the JetBlue Park wall in Fort Myers, but it's a start. First base coach Wayne Kirby will continue working with Mancini.

"The ball can kind of come off a little funky," Mancini said. "Kirby was talking to me. He said it comes off a little harder here than it does down there. That's something that I'll prepare for and I'm definitely going to take a lot of balls out there before BP and during to get ready."

For the Red Sox
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Andrew Benintendi CF
Mookie Betts RF
Hanley Ramirez DH
Mitch Moreland 1B
Xander Bogaerts SS
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Chris Young LF
Christian Vázquez C

Drew Pomeranz LHP