Daisuke Matsuzaka has been cleared to return from the disabled list after pitching in a simulated game at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon, according to Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com.
“We wanted to wait for Daisuke to throw and get looked at after he was done,” Francona said. “Dice threw 49 pitches and felt really good, checked out fine afterwards. He’ll pitch Thursday in Colorado.”
Matsuzaka landed on the disabled list after being scratched from last Saturday’s game due to a right forearm strain.
The 29-year-old right-hander is 5-2 with a 4.59 ERA and 1.31 WHIP over eight starts this season.