Josh Beckett On The DL, Clayton Mortensen Called Up

Josh Beckett was resting his shoulder due to inflammation, but the Red Sox have decided to take the conservative approach and placed him on the disabled list, giving him 15 days to recover instead. It had already been decided that Franklin Morales would start in his place in Sunday night's contest, but reliever Clayton Mortensen is up to take Morales' place in the pen as the long man in the meantime.

Mortensen has already been up once this year, and threw 9-1/3 innings in three games, striking out 12 and walking none. He's thrown another 26-1/3 frames for Pawtucket, posting a 2.39 ERA with twice as many strikeouts (24) as walks (12). With Morales not quite stretched out for a full starter's workload, Mortensen could once again see plenty of long outings over the next couple of weeks.

Valentine will not force Morales to go long if he shows himself incapable:

''I think he can pitch more than five (innings),'' Valentine said. ''We have the off day (Monday) and a stacked bullpen. Whatever he gives us should be enough.''