FORT MYERS, Fla.–Mike Lowell, making his first appearance since Game 3 of last year’s American League Division Series against the Angels, went 1-for-3 with a single in his first three game at-bats since he was forced out of the ALDS against the Angels last October. the third baseman, who served as designated hitter and batted fifth, received a healthy round of applause from the crowd at City of Palms Park as he stepped into the box for his return from surgery in the bottom of the first inning.

Facing Orioles right-hander Brian Bass, Lowell struck out on three pitches, taking a first-pitch fastball for a strike, fouling off a slider away, and then swinging and missing at another slider away. Of course, given that Lowell is just now trying to get his timing against pitchers who are now more than two weeks into the exhibition season, a few strikeouts in the early stages of Grapefruit League action shouldn’t be viewed as any great surprise.

Lowell faced hard-throwing right-hander Radhames Liz in his second at-bat, taking a ball high, fouling off another fastball, swinging and missing at a pitch and then, on a 1-2 count popping a foul to first. Because Lowell never had to leave the batter’s box to test the responsiveness of his hip to running, he stayed in the game for a third at-bat in the seventh, looking at a ball and called strike before lining a slider past the shortstop for a single off of right-hander Bob McCrory. He was then replaced by a pinch-runner and called it a day.

“Once I hit it, I looked at the shortstop (and said), ‘Please don’t get it. Please don’t get it.’ It drops in, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God—I’ve got to run,’” Lowell said. “I still didn’t have to beat out a ground ball or get to a double, so I knew it was going to be alright. Still, that twist on the swing and the twist back out to start running, it felt fine. I actually didn’t think about it, which is a good thing.”

Afterwards, Lowell pronounced his complete confidence that he will be ready come Opening Day.

“There would have to be a major setback or car crash,” he said, while turning skyward in supplication, “for that not to happen.”

He has his sights on a normal workload this season, suggesting that he’d like to play in roughly 150 games. There was a time in his career when he tried to convince manager John Boles in Florida to play a full 162-game schedule (in 2002, he came just two games short of that goal), but for now, playing all but a dozen or so games would qualify as satisfying.

“I’ve become a little wiser during the years that less is more sometimes,” said Lowell.

Some additional notes from today’s contest:

–John Smoltz is scheduled to throw his first bullpen session of the spring on March 23. Manager Terry Francona described the pitcher, who is not expected to pitch in big-league games until roughly June 1, as being precisely on schedule.

–Clay Buchholz shows every sign of being ready for a breakout this year. He threw three perfect innings with two strikeouts today (one on a changeup against Matt Wieters, the other on a curve to Scott Moore) against the Orioles (the same team against whom he threw his no-hitter in 2007, but also the same team against which he had a disastrous outing last August that led to his demotion to the minors) in an outing that he described as his sharpest of the spring.

Everything was impressive: he threw an economical 31 pitches, 24 for strikes, thereby continuing the improved pitch efficiency that has been one of his goals this spring. He has yet to walk a single batter in his eight spring innings. Of his nine outs today, two were on strikeouts and SIX were on groundballs. A year ago, Buchholz gave up grounders (119) and flyballs (123). Based on what the pitcher has done this spring, it would not be a surprise if that ratio tilted towards a majority of groundballs this year.

One of the more interesting moments of Buchholz’ outing came in the top of the second against outfielder Luke Scott. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Buchholz shook off catcher Jason Varitek multiple times, waiting until the catcher signaled for a two-seam fastball. Buchholz threw it, got Scott to roll over to second and was done with the inning. The at-bat underscored not only that Buchholz has a pitch repertoire that is capable of eliciting grounders, but also that he is now actively looking to achieve that outcome. A year ago, he hid from his fastball in most counts, afraid that he would miss and fall behind. Today, he insisted on throwing it — as well as the rest of the pitches — to positive effect.

“That’s probably the most confident I’ve been that I can remember,” said Buchholz. “I was talking to John Smoltz before the game. He said go out there and know what you want to do prior to even warming up. I wanted to throw each pitch where I wanted to throw it and I wanted to be convicted in throwing that pitch before I went out there. If Tek called a pitch that I didn’t have in my mind to throw, I shook him off,” said Buchholz.

Of course, no matter how well Buchholz throws this spring, he still might not have a spot in the major-league rotation. The Sox still have Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield slotted for the rotation, with Brad Penny trying to show he’ll be healthy to start the year in the rotation.

“That’s in the organization’s hands,” said Buchholz. “I’ve gone out and showed them that I worked in the offseason, that I did whatever I needed to do to get better to be a part of this team. They went out and got some guys they could depend on. I think I’m sort of a backup plan right now. If not, hopefully that fifth spot in the rotation is there for me if they give me a call.

“Slowly but surely I’ve shown them that I think I’m ready for whenever they have to call on me, whether it’s midseason, late season, September callup, or beginning of the season. I’ll be ready to go.”

–Rocco Baldelli hit a first-inning rocket to left-center for a run-scoring, ground-rule double. He’s playing left field, the first time in a week that he’s been in the field since a minor hamstring tweak. He’s handled all three fly balls hit to him thus far without incident.

–Daniel Bard, who is competing with Buchholz for the title of most impressive pitching performance in spring training this year, gave up a walk and single in his inning of work, but escaped harm by striking out Blake Davis on a strikeout. One talent evaluator said before the game that he’s clocked Bard at 101 m.p.h. this spring, the first time in his decades in the game that he’s seen a pitcher light up his radar gun with such a number. (The evaluator said that only one other pitcher — Hector Carrasco — had ever registered triple digits on his gun.)

–After the game, the Red Sox made two more cuts, re-assigning pitchers Kris Johnson and Dustin Richardson to minor-league camp.