The Red Sox have designated Darnell McDonald for assignment, in order to free up space on the roster for Josh Beckett. Beckett is starting tonight’s game.

Darnell McDonald joined the Red Sox in 2010 and was added to the major league roster after Jacoby Ellsbury was injured by Adrian Beltre. In his first game as a Red Sox, he hit a game tying home run in the bottom of the 8th inning against the Texas Rangers, then hit a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th to give the Red Sox a 7-6 victory. It was a moment Red Sox fans won’t soon forget.

McDonald hit .270/.336/.429 in his first year as a Red Sox, while collecting 9 home runs, 18 doubles, and 3 triples in 117 games. In 2011, he hit .236/.303/.401 with 6 home runs, 6 doubles, and a triple in 79 games. And so far this year, he’s hit .214/.309/.369 with 2 home runs and 7 doubles in 38 games.

And while his numbers are far from eye popping, in 2010 and 2011 he hammered lefties, and served as a solid 4/5th outfielder for the Red Sox. He’s a true professional, and he’ll be missed by Red Sox Nation.

Dream come true to play in Boston want to wish my boys good luck the rest of the year! Much love to RSN! #ShowGoesOn

— Darnell McDonald (@MacDime54) June 30, 2012

For at least the time being, Bobby V intends to use a 6 man starting rotation. Even with the Neckett returning from the DL this Saturday, Franklin Morales and Aaron Cook will both gets starts over the next 6 games.

On the subject, Valentine said “Well, I always think you need 10 starters. I felt you leave Spring Training with 10 starters, because when you have a day when someone has to be skipped and you don’t want to put him on the DL and you pluck someone from the Minor Leagues, you want to pluck the guy who’s ready to pitch on that day. We didn’t really build that full 10, but we were close. You know, if ever a guy is out of gas, it might be now. It’s not necessarily even a physical thing. You start looking at the finish line and you lose a stride. I think when a guy has that extra day, you can kind of put aside the idea that he’s tired.”

Franklin Morales, who pitched last night against the Mariners, has been surprisingly good in the new role. He has a 2.00 ERA over 18 innings pitched with 24 K’s in the 3 starts he has made. The other former Colorado Rockie Aaron Cook has made just 1 start since returning from the DL. He allowed 2 runs over 5 innings in a win over the Atlanta Braves this past week.