UPDATE: Niuman Romero has been designated for assignment.
Kevin Youkilis is back in his traditional spot at cleanup in the Red Sox lineup tonight, a day after leaving the game with a sudden case of right ankle pain. But the Red Sox aren't taking any chances of having a backup middle infielder try to hit for a first baseman again, and have called on Triple-A first baseman Ryan Shealy to head down to Florida in case Youkilis can't play.
"We need to be prepared for the chance that maybe he shows up and he's not quite feeling as good as he says, so we're trying to prepare for that," Francona told WEEI. "We definitely have some moving parts."
Shealy has split time between the Triple-A teams of both the Red Sox, and their opponents tonight, the Rays in 2010. He's currently hitting .240/.361/.489 season with something of a three-true-outcomes profile. Shealy has a career Major League line of .271/.335/.429, but hasn't played since 2008 with the Royals.
Presumably Niuman Romero would be the odd man out in the case of Shealy being activated.