PAWTUCKET, R.I. — There isn’t a more enthusiastic or likeable figure in the Red Sox organization than Daniel Nava.

The 27-year-old switch-hitter has already made a lasting impact on Red Sox Nation with his bases-loaded homer off Philadelphia’s Joe Blanton on June 12, becoming just the second big leaguer in recorded history to hit the first pitch in the big leagues for a grand slam.

But he knew that once Jeremy Hermida returned from his rib injury on Thursday, his days with the big league club were over – at least for now.

His famous home run on that Saturday afternoon came as a left-handed hitter. Nava is a natural lefty but showed enough skill and professionalism to turn around and hit from the right as well. But unfortunately, for him, not with much success at the big league level.

He batted just .182 [4-for-22] against left-handed pitching, in his six weeks with the Red Sox. That’s not to say he can’t hit right-handed. In addition to his game-tying homer in the third inning Thursday against Toledo’s Charlie Furbush, he homered from both sides of the plate for Pawtucket back on April 30. He had 10 doubles with the Red Sox but just one right-handed.

So when Nava homered and drove in three runs with two hits right-handed Thursday, there was reason for Nava to break out that sincere smile he showed off in Boston.

“I think he needed to turn around and get a little more familiar with the right-handed swing,” Pawtucket manager Torey Lovullo said. “But he’s a hitter, he’s going to hit no matter what. He just needs the reps, he needs the ABs and it was nice to see him get going from that side of the plate.”

“I’m naturally left so when it comes to the right side, it takes a little more time for me to get locked in,” Nava said. “I just wasn’t doing a very good job up there with that so I knew that was what I had to focus on.”

Lovullo was happy for Nava and just happy to have him back as his team beat Toledo, 5-4, in 10 innings when Nava scored the winning run on a single by Lars Anderson.

“We missed him,” Lovullo said. “Unfortunately, he’s not in the big leagues but fortunately for us, he’s here in Pawtucket.

Lovullo isn’t worried about Nava since he knows the hard worker will work on what he needs to in order to make the right statement to Red Sox management.

“He’s just such a polished hitter, he’s got a professional approach and with one swing of the bat, got us back in the game.”

Nava was humble about his right-handed homer that got the team back in the game on Thursday.

“It helped us get back into the game, and that was huge because at the time it was 3-0, so to get us back in the game,” Nava said.

Nava flew back to Boston following Wednesday’s game in Oakland, taking a red-eye, grabbing what precious nap time he could before stopping off and then heading down Thursday in order to play right field for the PawSox.

“I was trying to sleep and I couldn’t do it very well,” Nava said. “I was tossing and turning in a two-inch chair so that wasn’t going too well. After the season, I still have a lot of games left and have a lot of games left and have work to do. I have to work on some defense and polish that up. I have a lot of things I need to work on in order just to make myself better, whether I stay here or get called up, doesn’t matter. That’s the stuff for the long term I need to do better.

“I was able to go back to my place and get a couple hours of sleep. If that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t even been able to function.”

His manager thought he functioned quite well.

“Here’s a guy that flew from the West Coast to the East Coast on a red-eye, got up today after sleeping on the plane, came to the ballpark and helped us win a baseball game,” Lovullo said. “I can’t say enough about what he did.”

Lovullo said he did consider giving Nava the night off following the travel but re-considered.

“I was going to leave it up to him but we were talking about coming back to here and making statements,” Lovullo said. “I want to get back to the big leagues as soon as possible and I think he did a good job of that.”