ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Matt Clement knows he’s fortunate.

The Boston pitcher was released from a hospital Wednesday, less than 24 hours after being hit in the side of the head by a line drive that knocked him off his feet. He rejoined his teammates in time to enjoy the end of a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“I’m thankful, I guess, for the way it happened if it had to happen,” said Clement, who was carted from the field after Carl Crawford’s liner struck him in the right side of the head, just above the ear.

“The strange thing is I remember the whole thing. I remember laying there and knowing what happened to me but not panicking. I didn’t really get scared until I was going off the field and I started thinking about my wife and two boys, and what might have been if it would have been in a different spot.”

Clement was hospitalized overnight and released after undergoing further tests and observation Wednesday morning. He was released in the afternoon, and took a short nap at the team hotel before heading to the ballpark to accompany his teammates back to Boston.

“I think that gave us a bigger lift than anything else,” manager Terry Francona said.

“We knew he was at the hotel, then you heard players buzzing when he showed up. Our guys were kind of scrambling back to say hello and check on him. I thought that was a great lift for everybody, myself included.”

Clement was bombarded with telephone messages from former teammates and friends who saw television replays of the ball bounding off his head with such force that it wound up skipping into left field for a RBI single.

“A lot more people called than when I made the All-Star team,” the pitcher joked.

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Clement said he has been hit in the leg and wrist by batted balls, but never in the head. He had a cut on his ear, was groggy and had some soreness in his neck but did not sustain a concussion.

“When a ball comes at you that quick, it’s a quick reaction. I saw the replay and I saw my glove flew up there after it got by and hit me in the head. I just remember it ricocheting off my head and me hitting the ground and looking over toward first base with a kind of ringing sensation in my ear,” the pitcher said.

“It was more of a shock. I wouldn’t call it intense pain. It was more of a shock to the situation, knowing what happened and knowing it wasn’t a pretty thing. ... I know he hit the ball hard. It wasn’t a changeup off his bat where you misjudge it with your glove. I knew he hit it about as hard as he’s going to hit a ball.”