AL | Hamstrung: Manny Ramirez sits against Twins

Manny Ramirez's pursuit of his 500th home run will have to wait for at least another day.

Ramirez, who has 497 career homers, was given most of Sunday night off against the Minnesota Twins because of a sore right hamstring. He entered in the ninth inning as a pinch-hitter, but grounded out to shortstop against Joe Nathan.

After spending the first eight innings on the bench, Ramirez stepped out of the dugout to wild cheers from a hearty contingent of Red Sox fans.

Boston manager Terry Francona really had no choice. His team had come back from deficits of 5-0 and 7-1, after an atypically brutal start from Tim Wakefield (3-2) at the Metrodome.

"I had qualms," Francona said. "But to come that far back, [Ramirez is] a pretty good hitter to not have hit."

Coco Crisp stole second base early in the count to put the tying run in scoring position.

"I just told myself, 'Try and make some pitches,' " Nathan said. "I definitely wanted to make sure I was still careful. I really wanted to be aggressive, but make good pitches."

He ran a two-seam fastball in on Ramirez's hands, and the slugger grounded out to shortstop Adam Everett to end the game and fall to 0 for 7 with five strikeouts lifetime against Nathan.

Francona said he saw Ramirez come up a little gimpy while running out a grounder in Saturday night's 5-2 victory over the Twins. Ramirez called Francona on Sunday morning and told him the leg was a little sore.

Baltimore: The Orioles purchased the contract of infielder Alex Cintron from Class AAA Norfolk and optioned RHP Bob McCroy to their top farm club.

Oakland: The Athletics reinstated RHP Rich Harden from the 15-day disabled list to make start against Texas, his first since April 2, but he couldn't hold a four-run first-inning lead. Harden allowed eight hits and five runs in 3-2/3 innings. Harden was placed on the disabled list on April 10, retroactive to April 3, with a strained right shoulder, his sixth trip to the DL over the last four years. ... All of the Rangers and a few of the Athletics used pink bats in honor of Mother's Day and to promote breast cancer awareness.

Texas: The Rangers placed RHP Kevin Millwood on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right groin before Texas' game against the Athletics. The Rangers called up RHP Doug Mathis from AAA Oklahoma to take Millwood's roster spot. Mathis is 5-0 with a 3.55 earned-run average in seven starts for Oklahoma, but will pitch in relief for Texas. Millwood left Saturday night's game against Oakland in the first inning after throwing 12 pitches to three batters, recording two outs. Millwood was injured on his 11th pitch. After he threw one more, he put his hands on his knees in obvious discomfort before being removed from the game.

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