SEATTLE — Brendan Ryan made a spectacular barehanded grab and perfect throw to first on Carlos Gomez’s ground ball in the third inning.
It was nice, but it wasn’t even his best on Sunday.
Ryan’s biggest contribution came at the plate, which rarely happens. It was an out, but a “productive out” as they are called in baseball.
With Dustin Ackley on second base in the third inning, Ryan stepped to the plate with one task: Get Ackley to third base. It didn’t matter if it was a hit, home run, bloop, bunt or even an out.
Ryan hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield off Brewers’ starter Wily Peralta. Second baseman Scooter Gennett fielded the grounder and fired to first for the out, while Ackley moved to third.
“I got a pitch I felt like I could stay inside of and hit a groundball over there,” Ryan said. “The guy is throwing 99 mph so you aren’t really trying to work the count there. You have to be ready to swing the bat.”
Ackley made it home on a wild pitch by Peralta, but credited Ryan as the key to it all.
“Any time you move a guy from second to third with less than two outs, that’s huge,” Ackley said.
Ryan began the season as a starter, but lost his job to Brad Miller because of poor production at the plate. Ryan plays about once a week.
“It was fun to get out there and contribute to a win,” Ryan said. “It’s been incredibly frustrating and disappointing these last two seasons of what’s gone on at the plate.”
Pryor recovering from surgery
Reliever Stephen Pryor was in the clubhouse on Sunday wearing a sling on his right arm. After being shut down for the season by team doctor Edward Khalfayan last weekend and further consultation from outside doctors, Pryor underwent surgery in Chicago to repair his torn latissimus dorsi.
“Where I had the injury in April, they went back and attached the lat back to the bone,” Pryor said. “I don’t think it’s a very difficult procedure. It just hasn’t been done very much with baseball players.”
Current Red Sox pitcher Jake Peavy had the procedure when he was with the White Sox in July of 2010. At the time, it was unprecedented for a pitcher. Dr. Anthony Romeo, the surgeon who performed Peavy’s surgery, handled Pryor’s procedure.
“It’s a sense of relief, knowing that it’s going to be fixed and trusting it and going from there,” Pryor said.
The recovery process is lengthy. Pryor will wear the sling for six weeks and then begin physical therapy.
“Hopefully, spring training I will be throwing and getting ready,” Pryor said. “Everybody seems pretty positive.”
Injury updates
Acting manager Robby Thompson said Hisashi Iwakuma’s tweaked lower back is fine and he will make his next start.
Catcher Mike Zunino was doing wind sprints before the game. He has yet to begin baseball activity as he recovers from surgery to remove a broken hamate bone in his left wrist. Thompson said Zunino is ahead of schedule in his return.
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