Mike Lowell confirmed between games on Saturday a WEEI.com report that he had been diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture in his ribs, an injury he originally suffered in a collision with Toronto infielder John McDonald at Fenway Park two weeks ago.

"(Adrian) Beltre didn't even hit me," Lowell said with a smirk, a nod to the third baseman who has fractured the ribs of two other Red Sox players this season.

Lowell didn't think too much of the collision at the time, mentioning only to team doctors that he thought he'd taken a pretty good blow from the shoulder of McDonald -- a New England native and a former Providence College star, coincidentally. But when the soreness hadn't gone away a week later, he underwent an examination.

As the Red Sox have learned this season through the saga of Jacoby Ellsbury and, to a lesser extent, Jeremy Hermida, a rib injury is treated the same whether the bone is bruised or whether the bone has suffered a non-displaced fracture. But Lowell underwent both a CT scan and an MRI on Friday just to get a little peace of mind.

The examination on Friday revealed the fracture.

Lowell was hitting .233 with a slugging percentage of .391 when the collision happened. He's hitting .268 with a slugging percentage of .317 since, including a double to center field in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.

The pain from the rib, Lowell said, is not as severe as the pain from his hip he endured a season ago. As long as he can tolerate it, doctors told him, he can keep playing.

"It bothers me to sleep, and it bothers me if I get fooled swinging," he said, "so don't get fooled. ... A fracture really makes it sound worse than what it is. I guess it is. I'm not a doctor. I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express."