Matt Clement returns to the mound Thursday, nine days after he was carried from it on a stretcher.

The Boston Red Sox right-hander and Butler native will start his team's Thursday afternoon game against Kansas City at Fenway Park.

"That's only two days after my regular turn and that's no so bad," Clement said. "I know it could have been a lot worse.

"I'm hoping the extra time off will rejuvenate my arm a little bit. It's not sore or anything, it just might benefit from some extra days off at this point in the year I don't normally get.

"I'm looking for any way to put a positive spin on this," Clement added.

Clement was hit on the right side of his head, just above the ear, by a line drive off the bat of Carl Crawford in the third inning July 26 at Tampa Bay.

He never lost consciousness or suffer a concussion and was out of the hospital the next day.

But he was scared.

"I don't think I panicked because I didn't feel a lot of blood," Clement said. "I knew what pitch I threw, who hit it - I was aware of all of my surroundings and everyone around me.

"My head was ringing. I didn't try to get up because (first baseman Kevin Millar) told me not to move."

Clement's wife, Heather, and 2-year-old son Mattix were watching the game on TV in Boston. His parents, Paul and Lois Clement, were watching it live on satellite TV in Butler.

"My heart was in my throat. I was a mess and so was my wife," Clement's father said. "That was the scariest thing in my life. For a second, I thought he was dead.

"I can't describe how I was feeling. I was petrified. We were in Butler, they were in Tampa. We wanted word on how he was within five minutes and knew we weren't going to get it."

Clement called his parents two hours later from the hospital emergency room.

"He assured us he was fine," his father said. "By God's will, it was a miracle. But it was still a rough night."

How rough Clement's return to the mound will be Thursday remains to be seen. His son already has helped him to prepare, however.

"I pitch a tennis ball to him and he drilled one right back at me, right past the other ear," Clement said with a chuckle. "I was able to avoid that one."

He took two days after being hit by Crawford's line drive before playing catch and throwing in the bullpen three days after the incident.

Nine days after being struck, he'll pitch to another major league hitter.

"I don't know how I'm going to feel," Clement admitted. "Maybe I'll flinch after the first pitch I throw or when the batter first makes contact.

"Maybe I'll be rusty, maybe I'll be fine. I just know I have to get back out there and I want to get back out there."

Clement wanted to pitch Tuesday night. Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided on Thursday afternoon.

"He told me he felt good and wanted to pitch Tuesday," Francona said on the Red Sox web site. "So I told him he should feel great when he pitches Thursday."

Clement had been struck on the hand and leg by batted balls before, but never in the head.

"I watch a lot of baseball and I remember the beanings," Paul Clement said. "I remember Herb Score getting hit. … Pitchers get hit every day. I saw three pitchers get hit last weekend.

"I've never seen anything like what happened to Matt. I'm so fearful. I wanted him to come home for a few days after that, knowing, of course, that he couldn't. I was worried about my son. I'm a typical Dad."

Clement leads the Red Sox in wins this season and takes a 10-3 record and 4.43 earned run average into Thursday's game. He has struggled since the All-Star break and pitching in the All-Star Game after not being named to the American League squad at first.

"I'm not an overly religious guy, but the Lord was looking over our boy," Clement's father said. "We're so lucky, so blessed, so proud of what he's done.