J.D. Drew, hitting into a double play in the fourth inning yesterday afternoon, played seven innings in the first game of the doubleheader, his longest stint since recovering from a herniated disk in his back.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — J.D. Drew, who on Wednesday saw his first action since Aug. 17, only to experience difficulty while running sprints on Friday afternoon, played the first seven innings of yesterday’s matinee against the Yankees. The outfielder’s performance, which included a sliding catch on a fly ball to his left by Johnny Damon in the first inning, left Red Sox manager Terry Francona feeling “encouraged.”

“I think he did pretty well,” Francona said of Drew, who suffered a herniated disk in his back last month. “He got a little stiff at the end. Made a nice running catch. It looked like he moved around in the outfield, got down the line pretty well. I don’t doubt he could have stayed in that game; I didn’t see any reason to do that. I think we were encouraged. Now the next step is how he is able to bounce back. But it was encouraging.”

cthorn@projo.com