Cook: Leg was numb after play at plate

Aaron Cook said after the Red Sox' 8-2 loss that he received 11 stitches for the cuts in his leg following his outing Saturday afternoon. The injury was a result of the pitcher's left knee falling on Chris Davis' cleat on a play in the second inning, in which the Baltimore first baseman raced home on Jarrod Saltalamacchia's passed ball.

"Well, when I slid into the plate, I came down on the top of his back spike," Cook said. "At first, I didn't think it was that bad. Salty's like, 'Hey, you might want to take a look at that. I see blood coming down your pants.' When I look at it, it was just kind of flayed open a little bit. Went back in the dugout, had the trainers just wrap it up real tight, try to put as much pressure on it as possible. My leg started getting numb after that.

"But it was my decision. I wanted to go out there and try to eat up some more innings. I know our bullpen's been kind of taxed. At the end of the day, I don't know if it was the best decision, but it was what I wanted to do."

Cook would go on to allow six runs in the third inning, all of which came with two outs. He finished his 48-pitch outing giving up seven runs on eight hits over 2 2/3 innings. He explained later that actually two of Davis' cleats bore into his leg on the play.

"I was feeling really good the first two innings, and then, all of sudden, I was up in the third inning," he said. "You know, to be honest, my knee in front of my leg was kind of numb, so I was really just out there throwing all arm. That's when you start to see the ball get flat. It's just up in the zone. Just made bad pitches after that. I probably could've thrown a little bit slower and got it down in the zone, but it was just one of those days."

When asked if he thought this would sideline him going forward, the righty said, "I don't know. I have to wait and see how it feels tomorrow. I know that right there, below the knee, it's an area you constantly have movement in when you're walking around. They told me to try to take it easy today. We'll come to the ballpark and see the doctors, see the trainers every day, and just monitor how things are healing."

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