By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com Red Sox InsiderFollow @sean_mcadam
TORONTO -- The day began with a strange pratfall in the bullpen. It turned better with 3 23 scoreless innings, during which he recorded six strikeouts.
Then Josh Beckett's day unraveled. Facing Brett Lawrie with two out and a runner on base in the fourth, Beckett suddenly felt some stiffness in his right ankle. After one more pitch, manager Terry Francona and trainer Mike Reinold came to the mound, and after a brief conference, decided that Beckett's day was through.
He was later diagnosed with a sprained right ankle. He'll be examined by Dr. George Theodore in Boston Tuesday morning.
"I've never had it happen before," said Beckett. "I felt in on the second-to-last pitch. It felt a little bit different on the next pitch."
"We really don't know," said Francona. "It was getting stiff and sore, so we got him out of there. Now we'll see what's going on in there."
Beckett revealed that he had previously slipped in the bullpen at Rogers Centre, but didn't think that had anything to do with the ankle soreness that later sent him from the game.
"I didn't feel it between (the bullpen fall and the fourth inning)," he said.
Boston Red Sox
Beckett said an injury such as this is "always concerning . . . it's my power leg."
After the Red Sox' 1-0 loss to Toronto, he described the ankle as "definitely stiff . . . but I don't know what we'll know."
On the last pitch, his 58th of the game, he said it "felt like it was locked up, then, like it popped in and out of the socket or something. There was a definitive feeling through my ankle."
"He just seemed to make a funny face," said catcher Jason Varitek. "He kind of came off the mound funny on that pitch."
Beckett wouldn't put a timetable on how long he might be sidelined.
"I could be out there in six days," he said. "We'll see, let's not put the cart in front of the horse. Let's do our due diligence."
Before the game, Francona said the Sox planned to give Beckett extra rest in September without mentioning any specific injuries. It's unknown at the moment whether the ankle was an issue prior to Monday.
The Sox also announced before the game that Erik Bedard was still suffering from soreness in his knee, an injury that forced him to the disabled list earlier in the year when he was with Seattle, and would miss his next start.
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam.