PAWTUCKET - Jed Lowrie's rehabilitation assignment with the Pawtucket Red Sox for his tender right wrist is not the issue.

"That's fine, but I think that I pushed it a little too hard, that I came back too soon and am not quite ready," said the shortstop, who is being slowed in his recovery process by bruised quadriceps and ligament tissue above his left knee, after being hit by a pitch there earlier in the week.

"I feel like my leg has been spasmming, to protect the area," said Lowrie after having a hit in the PawSox 6-2 loss to the Syracuse Chiefs Sunday at McCoy Stadium. "I want to get out there, but maybe I'll give it a day (off) and see how it feels going forward."

Lowrie is on a 20-day rehab assignment since undergoing surgery (April 21) on his left wrist. Playing in his fifth game with the PawSox, Lowrie went 1-for-2 with a third-inning single. He is 2-for-10 during the span, the switch-hitter taking left-handed

swings Sunday as the designated hitter. "Our job is to make sure that when those rehab guys come, that they have the opportunity to rehab," said PawSox manager Ron Johnson, leary of Lowrie's ability to get out of the batter's box, run the bases and roam in the field as shortstop after being hit just above the left knee in a game on Tuesday.

"There's a little something going on, there are some repercussions from that," added Johnson. "He wasn't moving right, so he had his two at-bats and we shut him down. There seem to be some lingering effects of by being hit by that pitch above the knee."

Lowrie singled into left field in the third, but moved gingerly down the first base line. "I like his swings, Jed can hit, from the left or right side," said Johnson. "Jed's not the slowest man, but he's not the fastest man in the world either. It's not a big deal, but he's rehabbing one body part (wrist) and we don't want him to be battling through another."

The PawSox faced a 4-0 deficit after three innings as knuckleballing starting pitcher Charlie Zink loaded the bases in both the first (on four hits) and second (on three hits) innings.

The PawSox were held scoreless through four innings by Syracuse right-hander Garrett Mock (six hits, one walk allowed over six innings). In the fifth, No. 9 batter Travis Denker singled into right field and scored on Freddy Guzman's double. In the seventh, Dusty Brown labeled a leadoff single and scored on a two-out single by Jeff Natale.

Lowrie played six innings Saturday for the PawSox as shortstop, going 0-for-3 at the plate. He was the starting shortstop for Boston on opening day and played five games before going on the DL with his wrist injury. He had played 81 games last season with Boston and was penciled in as the starting shortstop this season. With Nick Green and Julio Lugo in Boston, GM Theo Epstein and Boston manager Terry Francona don't need Lowrie to rush his recovery.

"It's not a long term thing," said Lowrie of his knee. "It'll be icing and stretching, the whole list of things that speed up the process. It feels like the muscles (in his leg) are in a constant state of contraction. It's a hindrance, it's frustrating."

Before undergoing wrist surgery, Lowrie felt that the limb was at 50 percent strength. In his post-surgical state, it now up to about 85 percent. "It still get sore at the end of a game, that's expected. The strength is still building back up, it's not where the right one is. I want to get out there and play, to do what I'm supposed to be doing."

FOUL BALLS - Both leadoff batter Freddy Guzman and catcher Dusty Brown had three hits, their 10th and 11th multiple hit games of the season ... Attendance was at 8,612 ... Michael Bowden pitches for the PawSox tonight ... Despite 11 hits and runners on base in six innings, the PawSox scored three runs or less for the 28th time in the past 44 games, (a 22-22 record), the 45th time this season. "We've got to get the ball in the gap, we didn't get that" said manager Ron Johnson ... The PawSox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and had leadoff batters on base in the first, second and seventh innings... 2B Jeff Natale had two hits, six over the past five games since coming off the DL with an oblique strain ... Syracuse's leadoff batter, Jorge Padilla, the Puerto Rican League Player of the Year this winter, extended his hitting streak to 11 games with three hits ... Syracuse 6-foot-6 1B Brad Eldred, the Pirates' minor league player of the year last season, had two hits and two RBI ... The PawSox added highly-touted catcher Mark Wagner with Carlos Maldonado (right calf strain) on the DL. The 25-year-old Wagner hit at a .301 rate with 18 doubles and 23 RBI in 42 games with Portland ... Starting pitcher Charlie Zink threw 99 pitches over six innings, allowing eight hits, "that was not a bad outing, that was a very professional effort," said Johnson of the RHP who doesn't have a win in his last five starts. "There were a lot of swings, a lot of contact, not missed contact," said the PawSox manager. "He was struggling to create that (command in the zone)."