PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Curt Schilling pitched three scoreless
innings in a minor league rehab outing for Triple-A Pawtucket on
Saturday, striking out six -- including Mark Bellhorn, a teammate
from Boston's 2004 World Series championship team.
"A little awkward at some points, just being back out there,"
said Schilling, who went on the 15-day disabled list on June 22 to
settle his shoulder down. "I felt good about the outing. ... I
could have probably gone back out there, but I answered the
questions I wanted to answer."
Schilling allowed two hits, walked none and threw 32 of his 40
pitches for strikes, hitting 94 mph on the radar and fanning the
side in the second inning. He left to a big cheer from the McCoy
Stadium crowd of 11,227 -- seventh-largest in ballpark history --
finishing his work without reaching his 50-pitch limit.
"He was very, very good," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said
after Boston beat the Chicago White Sox 11-2. "We're excited, and
I think we all thought that that's what we would see."
Bellhorn, was also greeted with a big cheer when he was
introduced and when he came up in the second inning. Schilling's
quick trip to Triple-A didn't allow the two to rehash the good
times, but Schilling shouted over to the Louisville Bats second
baseman when he swung at the first pitch.
"I had never seen the guy swing at the first pitch in the
history of his career," Schilling said. "I said, 'Oh, you're
going to start swinging at the first pitch now?"
Bellhorn swung at just 125 of the 620 first pitches he saw for
the Red Sox in '04, when he batted .264 but hit a two-run, go-ahead
homer in Game 1 of the World Series. He was hitting .216 when the
Red Sox released him the following August.
He struck out on three pitches as he tries to work his way back
to the majors in the Cincinnati organization.
Schilling last pitched in a game on June 18, when he allowed six
runs and 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings against the Atlanta Braves. The
Red Sox had a 10½-game lead in the AL East over second-place New
York when they decided to put Schilling on the disabled list and
give his shoulder a chance to rest.
The Yankees trimmed the deficit to seven games on Thursday
before dropping back another game on Friday.
"I'm not sure the standings would have changed the timetable
for me, because the end goal is still the same: pitching all the
way through the World Series," Schilling said before walking past
a TV set showing the final out of the Red Sox victory at Fenway
Park. "But it relieved some of the stress.
"As much as I hate being on the DL, and that guilty feeling of
not contributing, I have a blast with these kids and this
environment."
Schilling, who threw 31 pitches in a two-inning simulated game
at Fenway Park on Tuesday, is scheduled to pitch again for
Pawtucket on Thursday in Toledo. He said he didn't know the plan
beyond that.
"I think we've got a couple" rehab outings left, he said.
"We're excited and I think we all thought that that's what we
would see."
Schilling repeated that he feels better now than at any point in
the season, including his near no-hitter on June 7. At 40, with 560
games and more than 3,200 innings thrown, he knows he needs to
change his exercise routine to stay healthy.
"I didn't make the adjustments -- didn't know I needed to --
until it was too late," he said.