Ortiz

BOSTON — David Ortiz took live batting practice on the field yesterday for the first time in his rehabilitation from a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist.

“I feel good,” Ortiz said following the BP session. “My first day swinging out there and it was feeling good. I feel like I’m getting back to normal. I want to go back and play. When you don’t play it kills you. Injuries are better when you take your time because if you rush sometimes it’s not worth it.”

He hit six homers during the normal session and said he didn’t feel any “clicking” in the wrist, but felt a little sore on the outside pitches.

In the first round, Ortiz dropped down one bunt, hit three grounders, a liner to left and then the homer. He hit a line drive in his next swing, too, and left the cage after his seven swings in the first round with a smile on his face. Ortiz has progressed from swinging at a tee to soft toss and a BP session in a cage in New York on Sunday.

Ortiz was in a group with Mike Lowell, Julio Lugo and Manny Ramirez. Batting practice pitcher Ino Guerrero was doing the throwing.

His second round was less dramatic, but Ortiz was hitting the ball with authority and didn’t seem to be babying his left wrist.

“I was trying to swing the bat normally,” he said. “I wanted to swing hard to make sure I don’t feel anything. It was fine.”

Ortiz and the rest of the group finished against batting practice pitcher Matt Noone. Ortiz’s seven swings against Noone produced a liner to left, a homer into the right-field corner, a foul in the cage, a fly ball to the triangle, a liner to center, a homer over the visitors’ bullpen and a drive to the right-field corner that hopped into the stands after one hop on the warning track.

skrasner@projo.com