LOS ANGELES — On Saturday, it seemed a certainty that Bobby Kielty would remain with the Red Sox organization and report to Pawtucket to begin the season.

Yesterday, however, as the Sox left for the Bay Area, Kielty was in limbo, trying to decide his immediate future.

Saturday “was more for sure,” said Kielty yesterday morning before the Sox lost their exhibition finale to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-0. “But now it’s changed. It’s more wait and see.”

Kielty signed a minor-league deal with the Sox last winter and was in spring training on an invite. The deal includes an “out” clause that Kielty can exercise if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training, and another one later in the year if he isn’t called up to the big leagues.

“We really like him,” said manager Terry Francona. “We told him that the first day of spring training. But we told him that some things would have to break right for him to be on this team, and that didn’t happen.”

The outfielder’s hope had been that the Sox would move Coco Crisp before the start of the season, but that has yet to happen, freezing Kielty out of a roster spot. He was prepared to go to Pawtucket and wait for an opening, but that was before another unidentified team expressed an interest in him.

“Boston’s been pretty good about letting me explore my options out there,” said Kielty. “There’s definitely something out there (now); it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens.”

Kielty would not identify the team in question or even whether it was an American or National League team.

“I don’t think it’s a set decision,” he said. “We’ll see what happens in the next 24 hours.”

He made it clear that, all things being equal, his preference is to remain with the Red Sox. But if another team can offer a spot in the major leagues, Kielty will have a difficult choice.

“I don’t want to go anywhere else,” he said, “but we’ll see. If there’s a big-league job out there, I might have to take it.”

In any event, Kielty was to remain the L.A. area until Wednesday. He lives here and has been given permission to stay home and be with his newborn baby until his situation is resolved.

The Sox were on their way to making history until Kielty singled with one out in the eighth. Until then, the Sox were held without a hit; never in their history have the Sox been no-hit in exhibition play.

“We would have loved to have had 15 hits" to go into tomorrow, said Francona. “But that’s not what happened.”

Around the bases

J.D. Drew missed his fifth straight game, sidelined by a lower back strain. He did take batting practice, and Francona said he was encouraged watching him take some fly balls in the outfield prior to the game, but the Sox are unsure about his availability for the resumption of the regular season tomorrow in Oakland. The Sox will work out this afternoon at McAfee Coliseum and Drew will be further evaluated … The Sox officially — and finally — finished exhibition play with a 10-13-2 record. That includes two exhibition games in Japan … Red Sox hitters struck out 32 times in the last three exhibition games.

smcadam@projo.com