The massive slump the Red Sox are in seemed far less relevant by the end of Monday night, when the club revealed that David Ortiz, the team’s star designated hitter, suffered a recurrence of the rapid heartbeat he was experiencing 10 days ago. Ortiz flew back to Boston today to undergo further medical exams.
“He’s going to go back to Boston and he’s going to get a clean bill of health before we let him play again,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona after Monday’s 9-0 loss to the A’s. “He wanted to play; we just can’t do that. We can’t play him like that. We just can’t do it. I know [general manager Theo Epstein] is in agreement with me. We sat in here with [Ortiz] and, as much as we want to win, we can’t do it. We’re just going to make sure he’s OK.”