Derrik Gibson promoted to Lowell.

Is something up with Ryan Dent? He's out of the lineup tonight. I wonder if he's injured, or demoted back to Ft. Myers to scrimmage with the recent signees.

HIGHLIGHTS: Pawtucket's Sandy Madera had three RBI on a two-run opposite-field double to right in the first and a sizzling run-scoring single to right in the third. .. Newly acquired Jason Lane banged out his first two hits for the PawSox, a double in the first and a two-run homer in the seventh. … Keith Ginter delivered an RBI single in the first. … Jeff Corsaletti, who drove in four runs on Wednesday night, contributed an RBI single in the sixth last night. The PawSox left fielder also reached over the fence and robbed Curtis Thigpen of a two-run homer in the eighth. … Center fielder Sean Danielson ran a long way in catching a deep drive to right-center by the Chiefs' Buck Coats in the first inning, hanging onto the ball as he banged into the fence. In the second, Danielson hustled himself a triple on a shot to right-center.

KEYS TO THE GAME: Bartolo Colon held the Chiefs hitless in his four innings (40 pitches) in his fourth rehab start in the win that shaved the PawSox' magic number to one to make the playoffs. Jose Vaquedano (3-1) and Jon Switzer kept the shutout going but Eric Hull was nicked for three runs in the ninth. The PawSox racked up 15 hits. Every member of the starting lineup had at least one hit.

About an hour before last night's game, Bartolo Colon was standing by himself in front of a McCoy Stadium entrance looking all the world like some Little League kid who couldn't wait for the game to start.

Dressed in a T-shirt and his game pants, Colon was holding a weighted softball, flipping it up in the air and catching it in his glove. Then he walked into the entry area and threw the ball off a concrete post and fielded it, continuing that activity for a while.

Colon, of course, is no Little League kid. Indeed, there's very little about the rotund right-hander that is little, and he may become a big piece of the Boston Red Sox' ravaged starting rotation in the near future if his rehab assignment last night for the Pawtucket Red Sox is any indication.

Pitching quickly and efficiently, Colon did not permit a hit in his four-inning, 40-pitch start in Pawtucket's 8-3 victory over the Syracuse Chiefs.

With the Red Sox' rotation in a state of flux, Colon's health may be important, though given the fact he hardly has been stretched out in terms of pitch count, he would seemingly need at least one more start before he'd be ready to take the hill for Boston.

That timetable would have Colon ready, if he can stay healthy, for Sept. 1, when major-league teams can expand their rosters.

Last night's appearance marked the fourth rehab start on this go-round with the PawSox for Colon, who suffered a lower back strain on June 16 when he took some ridiculously aggressive hacks at the plate in Boston's interleague game in Philadelphia.

Colon's third outing, on Aug. 15, lasted only one inning because of a stomach bug. Last night, Colon looked strong even though the radar-gun reading on the sign in right field showed him registering only as high as 90 mph. All of his fastballs, though, were consistently in the 88-90 range.

Jose Tabata went 2 for 2 with a double and a triple and scored two runs, including the eventual game-winner, and Kyle Bloom retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced to lead the Altoona Curve to a 4-3 victory over the Portland Sea Dogs in front of a crowd of 5,045 at Blair County Ballpark on Thursday night.

Bloom (5-7) gave up two hits while striking out six batters with no walks over seven shutout innings. Reliever Josh Shortslef gave up a three-run homer to Mickey Hall in the top of the eighth inning but pitched a perfect ninth to close it out.

Josh Reddick and Juan Apodaca were the only players other than Hall in the Portland lineup who reached base. Both had two hits and scored on Hall's home run.

Portland starter Ryne Lawson (1-1) gave up three runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts over five innings.

Despite the loss, Portland maintained a two-game lead for the final Eastern League playoff spot in the Northern Division over the Binghamton Mets, who lost 2-0 to New Hampshire on Thursday.

The Lancaster JetHawks confidence level is growing nightly. Despite trailing early and despite several rallies by the Blaze, the JetHawks kept coming after the Blaze. After taking the lead twice, the bullpen came through to hold on for an 8-7 win. The victory is the JetHawks sixth in a row, their third winning streak of that length this season. The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes lost, so the JetHawks are now in first place in the second half by one and ½ games. Their magic number to clinch the South’s best record is four.

Although Lancaster scored in the top of the first inning, the Blaze led through most of the early-going. They roughed up Travis Beazley for three runs in the first and chased him out after scoring six times in the first four innings.

Lancaster battled back. They caught the Blaze for the first time in the third inning on a RBI double by Ryan Kalish and a ground out by Michael Jones. After the Blaze re-took the advantage, the JetHawks took their first lead in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Yamaico Navarro and Kalish.

Tom Hickman had two doubles and a triple Thursday, but his biggest hit of the night came in the ninth inning as he hit a bases-loaded single to drive in the winning run for the Hoppers.

Greensboro loaded the bases and the Greenville Drive fought off the Hoppers by getting back-to-back force outs at home plate, but Hickman snuck one through a hole on the right side to plate Matt Dominguez and give the home team a 6-5 victory.

The Hoppers used their late rally to score all six of their runs in the final four innings of the contest and erase a four-run deficit. Greensboro first got on the board with a pair of runs in the sixth inning thanks to Mike Stanton’s league-leading 34th home run; the Hoppers added two more in each the eighth and ninth innings to garner at least a split of the four-game set.

Starter Brett Durand tossed a solid five innings for manager Edwin Rodriguez, but was on the hook for the loss after allowing four runs in his sixth and final inning of work.

Kevin Gunter pitched the seventh and allowed Greenville’s final run of the game before Adam Campbell no-hit the Drive four the final two innings to pick up his first win in a Hoppers’ uniform.

The Lowell Spinners must have thought the New York/Penn League All-Star break was four days instead of three.

The locals barely showed up here last night, managing only one hit and no runs as they came off the break with a sluggish performance in a 2-0 loss to the Brooklyn Cyclones before 7,052 fans at Keyspan Park.

It was the second time this season Brooklyn pitchers have combined to one-hit the Spinners, who fell to 32-26 but still hold a comfortable lead atop the Stedler Division. The setback also snapped a six-game Lowell win streak.

The Cyclones (34-26), who own the No. 1 pitching staff in the NY/PL, are now 4-0 against Lowell this season with three shutouts.

Catcher Tim Federowicz once again had the only hit for the Spins, a solid line drive single to left with two outs in the top of the second. He then stole second, but was the only baserunner left stranded all night as Brooklyn pitchers did not walk anyone and the Cyclones did not commit an error.

Starting pitcher Steve Shaw (5-3) picked up the win with 6 2/3 innings of near-perfect work, striking out 10. Two relievers mopped up with brief hitless stints and five more Ks in the lightning-fast 2-hour, 7-minute game.

Lowell starter Yeiper Castillo (3-4) was the tough-luck loser, tossing five frames of five-hit ball with four strikeouts and no walks. Stephen Fife followed with three frames of four-hit, six-K relief (fanned the side in the sixth).

Brooklyn No. 9 batter Josh Satin accounted for both Cyclone runs, belting a two-out, solo homer to left in the fifth and smacking an RBI double to plate the insurance run in the seventh.