PAWTUCKET, R.I. — PawSox first baseman Carlos Delgado left the team’s 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Bisons on Sunday after three innings due to tightness in his lower left back and hip area. Delgado was originally scheduled to have the day off Sunday but requested he be in the lineup. He was replaced in the fourth inning by Lars Anderson at first base.

Delgado, 38, who has had two hip surgeries, said the tightness is not in the surgically repaired hip, but that it has been “sore for the last couple of days.” The first baseman said that the discomfort is “hopefully not” a setback, adding, that he and the PawSox will “see how it is tomorrow and take it from there.”

The stiffness was chalked up by Delgado to being something that comes up as one returns to game form.

“You want things to go pretty smooth, but you’ve got to get rid of some of those kinks and make sure that everything’s OK and you get into playing shape,” Delgado said.

PawSox manager Torey Lovullo didn’t seem too concerned with the injury as he, like Delgado, preached that the team and first basemen are better off not taking any risks.

“We’re going to err on the side of caution. … He was honest with us,” Lovullo said. “He said that he had a little hiccup in his back area, and we got him out of there. There was nothing more than that.”

Delgado played in just 26 games for the Mets last season and had 94 at-bats. He turned down other offers to come to Boston, a place where he hopes to contribute to a postseason push. Rehabbing second baseman Dustin Pedroia feels the same way about Delgado.

“He’s getting healthy,” said Pedroia. “His hip — you’ve seen it with Mike [Lowell] – there’s been a lot of guys that have had that hip surgery done, so we hope he gets healthy and then does what he’s accustomed to doing because he hits the ball a long way.”

Delgado struck out swinging against Bisons starter Raul Valdes in his lone at-bat Sunday. Since signing with the Red Sox last week, Delgado has gone 3-for-13 with two RBI and six strikeouts. There is no timetable for when he will join the Red Sox, but he can opt out of his contract if he is not called up by September 1.