FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Jake Peavy arrived at Boston’s spring training complex on Monday with a large white bandage covering his left index finger, the result of a weekend accident.
The right-hander, scratched from his scheduled spring training debut Monday against Pittsburgh in Bradenton, said he was hurt Saturday.
“Just getting ready to go fishing,” he said. “I promised my little boy I would take him fishing, so we went to Bass Pro and we bought us some rods and reels that were comboed.
Peavy said he was “trying to cut the wire tie that was holding them together, using the knife with my right hand and holding the rod with my left, and when I broke the wire tie, it struck the knuckle pretty good.”
Since Peavy didn’t want to disappoint his son they drove to teammate John Lackey’s house. But while pulling the knife out of his hand, Peavy said he struck a vein and got a good amount of blood on his shorts.
Peavy said he threw away the shorts at Lackey’s house and changed. Lackey told Peavy he should get the wound examined.
Peavy then went fishing and didn’t catch anything.
“I couldn’t tell my 5-year-old I didn’t want to go fishing anymore,” Peavy said. “It was his last day here. I couldn’t say, ’We’ll go tomorrow.’ It wasn’t the biggest deal in the world. Not much we could have done except - the biggest thing was, they were freaking out, thinking I was cleaning fish with the knife.”
The 32-year-old Peavy, acquired by Boston last summer, was 4-1 with a 4.04 ERA in 10 starts for the Red Sox last season and 0-1 with a 7.10 ERA in three postseason starts. He received several stitches Sunday to close the gash.
“It’s a bummer. I didn’t think it was that crazy bad to the point I didn’t seek medical attention. That day we wrapped it up and went fishing. I came in here yesterday and realized we needed to have it stitched up and we would have to take some precautionary measures. You just don’t want to risk infection. I could go out and play today if it was a must, but you can’t risk infection and let it sweat. And me not getting it tended to right off the bat, you just don’t want to get it infected and that’s the reason we’re going to hold off a day or two.”
Red Sox manager John Farrell said on Sunday that Peavy will not throw for three days.
“I don’t think it’s going to be long at all,” Peavy said. “I would like to get out, play some catch and do some stuff tomorrow. The biggest thing is they’re not going to let me sweat until the healing process takes over. I believe I’m going to play catch and I would love to tell you I’m going to make my next start. That’s certainly what I’m aiming for and hopefully we can do that and get back on schedule and it doesn’t mess things up too much.”
Peavy is behind because of irritation in his right ring finger stemming from when he was hit by a ball while shagging flies early in spring training. Farrell said Peavy’s timetable to start the season may not be affected if he can get back to his throwing program soon. Peavy could be fitted with padding in his glove.
“That’s going to be the kicker,” Peavy said. “It’s on a knuckle. We’ll figure it out. Get a bigger glove or something. I’m sure they’ll wrap it up and get it to the point where I’ll watch it all the way, like I tell my boys, and make sure the ball goes into the pocket of glove.”
And at least the injury isn’t to his pitching hand.
“We’ve all done something like that at some point in our lives,” he said. “It was a huge bummer, but so blessed it was my left hand. A bummer to miss a start and get off schedule a little.”
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