Aaron Cook to DL, Andrew Miller activated
Posted by Julian Benbow, Globe Staff May 6, 2012 12:10 PM
A day after making his Red Sox debut, righthander Aaron Cook was placed on the disabled list, making room on the roster for Andrew Miller, whose 30-day rehab stint ended Sunday.
Cook needed 11 stitches to sew up a gash he sustained after being spiked by Orioles DH Chris Davis in the second inning of the Red Sox' 8-2 loss Saturday.
Sox manager Bobby Valentine explained the move, "One, we need a little help in the bullpen obviously, so Aaron understands that. He understands baseball.
"Two, he has 11 stitches, and I can't try to have him pitch. He's had shoulder problems in the past. If the stitches come out, there could be infections. So it's just the only thing we can do at this time, we think. He'd like to pitch, but it's not going to happen."
Nagged by ankle and elbow issues in spring training, Miller was ultimately sidelined in March by a strained hamstring. He treated his time on rehab as a pseudo-spring training. He made 12 appearances -- two in Single A Greenville and 10 in Triple A Pawtucket, where he had a 5.73 ERA.
"It was tough not getting repetitions in spring like everybody else," Miller said. "But that's what I've done the last month I guess. The last month has been my spring training, and I feel ready to go.
"It's been good. I've gotten chances to warm up and sit down and warm up. I've gotten to warm up in the cold and the rain and I've thrown multiple innings, started innings, finished innings. All that stuff, it's been nice to kind of work some of that stuff out and get used to it and all of it's gone pretty smoothly."