Ortiz quells wrist concerns with power display

These days, the most dreaded sound in Boston is the one clicking inside David Ortiz's wrist. That’s what the Red Sox DH heard in Baltimore in May, when he sustained a partial tear of the tendon sheath in his left wrist. He heard it again last week during a seven-game trip to Kansas City and Chicago, in which he batted just .192 (5 for 26, three of those hits coming in one game) and sat out Monday’s game against the White Sox with what was described as tenderness and stiffness in the wrist.

The Red Sox told Ortiz he would experience periodic discomfort in the wrist, but with Manny Ramirez traded to L.A. and Big Papi’s average hovering around .250, the traditional thunder in the middle of the Red Sox order had been reduced to … a click.

But a night off evidently worked for Ortiz, who Tuesday night hit two three-run home runs in a 10-run first inning against the Texas Rangers, then added a double that was inches from being a home run in the fifth. Ortiz became the fifth player in history to homer twice in the first inning, according to baseball-almanac.com. The others are Bret Boone, Mike Cameron, Aaron Boone and Von Hayes. Bret Boone and Cameron did it in the same game for the Seattle Mariners, on May 2, 2002.

Ortiz is the fourth Red Sox player to hit two home runs in an inning, joining Nomar Garciaparra, Ellis Burks and Bill Regan.

Ortiz’s feat nearly was trumped by the Rangers’ bid for a comeback for the ages before the Rangers ultimately fell, 19-17. Texas rallied from that early deficit with eight runs in the fifth and five in the sixth, then added another run to pull ahead, 16-14. But the Red Sox drew to within a run after a throwing error by pitcher Jamey Wright. Dustin Pedroia, who had five hits, doubled home the tying run in the eighth, and Kevin Youkilis’ three-run home run was the difference, though Brandon Boggs’ RBI double off Jonathan Papelbon gave Boston a final scare in the ninth.

Ortiz doubled, walked twice and scored four runs in addition to his two home runs.

Ortiz was placed on the DL on May 31 and was activated on July 25. In his first 15 games back, spanning 68 plate appearances, he had hit just one home run – a two-run homer off Sidney Ponson of the Yankees on July 27 – and knocked in 10 runs. Seven of his previous 10 home runs had come with the bases empty until he went deep twice against Scott Feldman of the Rangers.