Daniel Bard tossed two scoreless innings for Triple-A Pawtucket Thursday, allowing no hits while walking one and striking out four.

It's easily his best outing of three since being demoted. The Red Sox have been mum about Bard's future role, but we'd be shocked if they put him back in the rotation. If he can string together a few more appearances like this, he should join the bullpen before long.

Daniel Bard allowed one run in one inning Monday in a relief appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket.

It was a mixed bag. Bard gave up a single, a walk and a double steal before inducing a run-scoring groundout. He then wiggled out of trouble by getting a swinging strikeout and a strikeout looking. Overall, he threw just 11 out of 22 pitches for strikes, so his command remains a work in progress. It's not known if he'll continue to pitch in relief, but that seems to be the way the Red Sox are leaning at the moment.

Daniel Bard will be pitching out of the bullpen on Monday evening at Triple-A Pawtucket.

The Red Sox are still claiming to be undecided about Bard's future role, but the indication here would be that he's ticketed for the big-league 'pen. The righty was demoted to the minors earlier this month after posting a 5.24 ERA and 34/37 K/BB ratio in 11 starts with Boston.

Daniel Bard allowed three runs on two hits and struck out two in first appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday.

Bard was reportedly clocked in the 95 mph range, but struggled with his command -- hitting two batters -- and never really looked comfortable on the mound. He threw 25 pitches (16 strikes) before being removed. "It was a tough situation, it's such a weird outing," Bard said. "You prepare as if it's a start, but knowing you're only going one inning you try to block that out. It's a little bit of a weird mentality." Bard is scheduled to start again on Monday as part of Boston's plan to get him back on track.

Daniel Bard is expected to throw one inning Friday in his first appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket.

Bard will continue to work as a starting pitcher, but the Red Sox want him to have short outings as he attempts to sharpen his control and command. "It's more just to be able to repeat it more often," said Bard, who believes he has spotted a mechanical flaw. "If I go out there tomorrow, throw five innings and I basically feel the same as I have my last couple starts, but get through five, we're kind of wasting bullets, I think is the way they see it. But if we go an inning or two and everything feels good, we do it a couple days later and still feel good, then we stretch it out from there." Bard will make his next appearance Monday, though it's not clear how many innings he'll throw.

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said Daniel Bard's future role hasn't been decided upon yet.

Manager Bobby Valentine said Bard will remain a starting pitcher in the minor leagues, which is technically true, but his first outing Friday at Triple-A Pawtucket will be an abbreviated one. "He has a very good idea of what he's got to do," said Cherington. "He's just focusing on the fundamentals of what allowed him to be elite and what will allow him to be elite in the future, getting those locked in and then we'll worry about pitch counts and role and all that stuff later." We're betting that Bard returns in a bullpen role.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said Tuesday that Daniel Bard will remain a starting pitcher in the minor leagues.

In other words, the Red Sox haven't abandoned their plan to use him as a starter, but just want him to work through his kinks at the minor league level as opposed to the big leagues. The experiment has been a failure until this point, as he has a 5.24 ERA and 34/37 K/BB ratio, but Valentine thinks he'll have a "quick turnaround." Those in mixed leagues shouldn't wait around.

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox will formulate a plan for Daniel Bard on Tuesday.

Bard's rotation spot is hanging by a thread after he gave up five runs on six walks, one hit and two hit batsmen over just 1 2/3 innings Sunday against the Blue Jays. Early word is that the Red Sox are considering whether to move him to the bullpen, place him on the disabled list or demote him to the minors.

According to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford, the Red Sox are prioritizing starting pitching depth leading up to the trade deadline.

Daniel Bard is officially on notice. The Red Sox reportedly don't view Daisuke Matsuzaka and Aaron Cook (knee) as realistic options for the rotation, and Ross Ohlendorf recently opted out of his minor league contract. Bard currently owns a 5.24 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts) this season. He was clocked in the lower-90s on Sunday.

Daniel Bard yielded two runs in 5 1/3 innings Tuesday in a victory over the Tigers.

He struck out four, walked two and surrendered a pair of homers. For the second straight start, he won ugly. As we've said before, Bard (5-5, 4.56 ERA) needs to become more economical with his pitches before he's a reliable fantasy starter. Tonight, he needed 94 pitches to record 16 outs. He's worked less than seven innings in seven of his nine starts despite throwing at least 90 pitches in all of them.

Daniel Bard allowed one run on six hits and four walks in six innings of Sunday's 12-1 win over the Indians.

Bard struck out two in improving to 3-4. Not a bad afternoon, though Bard has now issued at least four free passes in three of his six starts, and has yet to turn in a walk-free performance. He'll bring a 4.30 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and ugly 23/20 K/BB ratio into his Friday outing in Philadelphia.

Daniel Bard struggled in his second start back in the rotation, allowing the Athletics four runs on eight hits in just 5 1/3 innings on Wednesday.

Bard continued showing his improved command, walking just two in the game, but he only recorded one strikeout. The loss drops him to 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA on the season. He'll look to get back in the win column when he takes on the Royals in Kansas City on Tuesday.

Daniel Bard is not available on Wednesday.

Bard threw a 40-pitch bullpen session before the game in anticipation of his Friday start against the White Sox. So his stay in the bullpen lasted just one appearance.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said during an appearance on WEEI in Boston that Daniel Bard could throw an inning in relief in Wednesday's game, but is still expected to start Friday against the White Sox.

Bard got the win in relief Monday against the Twins after getting two crucial outs in the bottom of the eighth. Things could change if the bullpen continues to be a mess and the Red Sox have a reasonable alternative for their rotation (Aaron Cook, Daisuke Matsuzaka and free agent Roy Oswalt are all possibilities), but the club still intends to give Bard a fair shake as a starter.

In his first relief appearance of the season, Daniel Bard picked up the win on Monday after tossing only two-thirds of an inning.

How ironic that Bard's first win came out of the bullpen. Despite walking a batter and throwing only four of 11 pitches for strikes, he helped the Red Sox end their five-game slide.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said Monday that moving Daniel Bard back to the bullpen full-time "doesn't look like a great temptation."

Sunday's game against the Yankees was rained out, so the Red Sox have decided to skip Bard in the rotation and use him temporarily out of the bullpen until his next scheduled outing on Friday. Boston's bullpen is dead-last in the majors with an 8.44 ERA, so we can't see how they wouldn't be tempted to move him back into a late-inning role, but Bard has made it clear that he wants to be a starter.

Despite walking seven batters, Daniel Bard limited the Rays to one run in 6 2/3 innings on Monday.

Only the last walk hurt him, as it came with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh. Bard was pretty clearly gassed at this point, and manager Bobby Valentine should have already removed him from the game. Still, despite all of the walks, it was a strong outing from Bard. Both his fastball and his slider were in good form, and he ended up with seven strikeouts.

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said Monday during an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM that the team still wants to see what Daniel Bard can do as a starting pitcher.

There's already plenty of clamoring for Bard to move back to the bullpen after Mark Melancon and Alfredo Aceves imploded in the opening series against the Tigers, but Cherington isn't ready to panic. "It's way too early in the season to talk about changing roles or reacting off a three-game series," said Cherington. "Ultimately, of course if things are not working deeper as we get deeper into the season, we'll consider changes, whether that involves a pitcher inside the organization, outside the organization, different roles, etc., but for right now, Daniel's going to start tomorrow. We'll see how this goes, and again, we feel like there's enough talent down there to get the job done." Bard will make his first major league start Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

When asked if Daniel Bard is an option to take over as closer, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine responded, "Might be."

It's tough to know if Valentine is being truthful, cagey, misleading, sarcastic, or some combination of them all. At the moment, however, Valentine certainly has to be seriously considering ending Bard's conversion to the rotation. Andrew Bailey is out until after the All-Star break with a thumb injury and Boston's bullpen has been awful thus far. Alfredo Aceves, Valentine's choice to begin the year as closer, has allowed four hits and three runs without recording an out over two appearances. Mark Melancon is 0-2 with a 36.00 ERA and 5.00 WHIP over two games. It's early, so it is probably no time to panic, but if both continue to struggle, Bobby V and Boston's management will have no choice but to mix it up.

Daniel Bard will make his first major league start Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

Bard threw a simulated game on Wednesday at the Red Sox's spring training complex to ensure that he's probably stretched out for Tuesday's big debut. The 26-year-old right-hander posted a rough 6.57 ERA in 24 2/3 innings this spring, but there's optimism that he'll be able to handle the fifth spot in the Boston rotation gracefully.