There are no plans for Gonzalez to get X-rays or an MRI. He did not take batting practice.

“We’re hoping that doing nothing will get him back quicker,” Valentine said. “They think it’s muscular. Right now it’s being treated as a muscular situation.”

Gonzalez stayed on his feet before Saturday’s game. Getting in and out of a chair, he said, was uncomfortable.

Gonzalez averaged 160 games per season from 2007-11. Missing games is something foreign to him, particularly with such a bizarre injury.

“Hopefully I wake up tomorrow and I feel fine,” Gonzalez said. “I woke up on Friday and felt 100 percent. I went to the mall and ran into a family and that’s what happened. I was perfectly fine before that. It’s crazy.”

The Red Sox activated Clay Buchholz off the disabled to start against the Rays on Saturday. Infielder Mauro Gomez was optioned to Triple A Pawtucket.

Gomez was 8 of 24 with three doubles and three RBIs in six games after being called up July 3.

He started five games at third base and was at first base on Friday.

Gomez committed four errors in those six games.

The 27-year-old shows promise as a hitter, even this late in his career. But any future he has may be as a designated hitter.