Cadaver pitches in to help Red Sox when it mattered

Somewhere on a slab in Boston is a citizen of Red Sox Nation who actually gave his body to the cause.

With the team’s future increasingly dependent on Curt Schilling’s right leg, doctors decided to try an apparently unprecedented procedure to keep a tendon from slipping around in his ankle. But first, they wanted to test it out.

So they used a cadaver. No way to know if it was a Red Sox fan.

The Red Sox training staff thought of various ways to keep the tendon in place. Special high-top shoes didn’t work, and they hit upon the idea of sewing skin in Schilling’s leg to the tissue underneath, creating a wall that would keep the tendon in place.

Schilling had three stitches put in at about 2 p.m. on Monday, about 90 minutes before he tested his ankle on the bullpen mound in Fenway Park.

Although there was some fluid and blood leaking through Schilling’s sock on Tuesday night, Epstein could see after the first pitch that Schilling was throwing like normal.

The sutures were taken out after the game to avoid infection; if Schilling pitches again, they would be put back in. Epstein said there was no problem repeating the procedure a couple of more times.

“We only have one more series,” he said. “People think it’s reasonable to do it a couple more times.”

Phillies to interview Russell for vacant manager job

Former Philadelphia Phillies catcher John Russell will be the seventh person to interview for the team’s vacant managerial position.

Russell, who currently serves as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ third base coach, will meet with Phillies officials next week, general manager Ed Wade said.

Russell was a first-round pick by the Phillies in 1982 and spent his first five major league seasons with the club.

•John Vukovich, a coach with the Phillies for the last 17 seasons, has accepted a new position as the special assistant to the general manager, Wade said.

Former infielder Hiller dies

Chuck Hiller, who hit the National League’s first grand slam in the World Series, has died. He was 70.

Hiller worked in the New York Mets organization for the past 24 seasons as a major league coach and a minor league manager and adviser. He was the adviser to the minor league director this past season.

The former second baseman died Wednesday in St. Pete Beach, Fla., after a lengthy illness, the Mets announced.

Hiller played for four teams in eight seasons and batted .243 with 20 home runs and 152 RBIs. His grand slam in Game 4 of the 1962 World Series off New York Yankees pitcher Marshall Bridges snapped a seventh-inning tie and helped the San Francisco Giants to a 7-3 victory.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been completed.