Charles Krupa / AP

Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis is escorted from the field by trainer Paul Lessard after getting hit by a warm-up throw on Monday.

updated 5:22 p.m. ET June 24, 2008

BOSTON - Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis has been sent to an eye specialist after getting hit in the face by a one-hop throw in practice, and will sit out Tuesday night’s game against Arizona.

The 2007 American League Gold Glove winner was struck under the right eye Monday night by Mike Lowell’s throw during infield warmups. Youkilis’ eye immediately swelled and turned purple.

His eye was still watering and swollen when he arrived at Fenway Park on Tuesday afternoon, so he was sent for further medical evaluation.

“He showed up, looked like he got beat up,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “He’s still got some watering because of the swelling so we sent him down to the eye specialist.”

Youkilis had a CT scan on his face Monday night and doctors told him and the team that he would recover.

Francona said he hoped to have Youkilis back for Wednesday’s finale against Arizona or Boston’s first game in Houston on Friday, following an off-day Thursday.

“He’s not going to play (Tuesday night) just because of the watering that would make it hard to send him up there to hit, unless that clears up,” Francona said. “I’m sure they’ll dilate it, which takes a while to get back to normal anyway.”

The Red Sox are short-handed at first since backup Sean Casey is serving the second game of a three-game suspension for his role in a June 5 brawl with the Tampa Bay Rays. Brandon Moss came in for Youkilis in the fifth and played his first game at first base.

Moss mishandled a routine grounder that allowed Arizona’s second run to score in the Diamondbacks’ 2-1 win.

“He hasn’t had a lot of experience yet playing first,” Francona said. “He’s still a little bit rough over there. But if he can handle it, all of sudden you’ve got a pretty good left-handed bat that can do a lot of things. That can be pretty valuable.”

Shortstop Alex Cora will serve as Boston’s emergency first baseman should something happen to Moss.

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