Farrell: Pedroia's return stalled by continued knee soreness

After Dustin Pedroia's intense weekend in Baltimore, which resulted in an injured knee and a four-game suspension for teammate Matt Barnes, the second baseman will continue to sit on the bench despite originally being scheduled to return to the Boston Red Sox's lineup Wednesday.

Pedroia injured his knee after being spiked during a slide by Manny Machado and with field conditions not being optimal Wednesday at Fenway Park against the New York Yankees, manager John Farrell opted not to start the four-time All-Star.

"With the wet grounds, I wasn't going to take any potential risk," Farrell told Tim Britton of the Providence Journal.

Farrell also mentioned that Pedroia felt soreness in his left knee during pregame workouts Monday, but is hopeful the 2008 American League MVP will return Thursday.

"I did some activities yesterday, kind of tested it out a little bit. Just a little sore," Pedroia told Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. "They’re just going to give me one more day and I’ll be in there.

"I didn’t tear any ligaments or anything," he continued. "I’m hoping to get out there tomorrow and be fine. I did a lot of stuff today to test it and be ready. I’ve played through a lot worse. I can’t hurt myself by being out there."

Pedroia is hitting .258/.329/.274 with five RBIs across 16 games.