PAWTUCKET -- After having been scratched from his last scheduled start for Pawtucket on Sunday because of a stiff back, Boston reliever Keith Foulke continued his rehab assignment last night in front of 6,522 fans at McCoy Stadium.

Foulke pitched one scoreless inning. He threw 18 pitches, 10 for strikes. He struck out two and walked one in Pawtucket's 12-3 loss to last-place Syracuse.

"I felt pretty good," said Foulke. "It was the first time that I've been out there in a while, and I'm happy with the result."

Foulke had good separation in speed between his breaking ball, which ranged from 75 to 82 mph, to his fastball, which topped out at 89 mph.

"I'm happy with the swings that they did take," said Foulke, who got Wayne Lydon and Chad Mottola to swing at strike three. "I kept them off balance and threw a couple of strikeouts. My control was a little iffy, but I threw a couple of curveballs and a lot of splitters, so I'm satisfied with it."

Foulke has been solid in his two rehab appearances thus far. He made his first rehab appearance on July 28 for Class-A Lowell of the New York-Penn League. He started against Vermont and pitched one scoreless inning, with one strikeout.

"We are putting it in high gear right now," Foulke said. "We are getting after it. We are looking for a date to come back, and hopefully it will be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week."

Foulke was placed on the 15-day disabled list on June 13 (retroactive to June 12) because of right elbow tendinitis. He is 2-1 with a 5.63 E.R.A. in 29 relief appearances for Boston this season.

Kason Gabbard replaced Foulke and faced only three batters in the second inning, but Syracuse took a 1-0 lead against him in the third on Kevin Barker's RBI single. Rob Crosby belted a two-run homer in the fourth, extending the SkyChiefs' lead to 3-0, before Pawtucket cut its deficit to 3-2 on back-to-back home runs by Corky Miller and Willie Harris in the fifth.

Pawtucket tied it in the sixth when Dustin Pedroia drove in Adam Stern with a fielder's choice.

Syracuse scored six times in the eighth off Gabbard (two runs) and Javier Lopez (four runs, three earned) and added three more runs in the ninth off closer Barry Hertzler.

Foulke didn't stay until the end. He got in a black convertible and drove away in the bottom of the fourth after signing about a dozen autographs for fans, but he'll be back to pitch tomorrow.

"I'm coming back here on Saturday to throw two or three innings, get stretched out a little bit," Foulke said. "[Boston] is off on Monday and I'll be joining them on Tuesday in Kansas City. . . . I want to get stretched out [tomorrow] because when I go back, I want to have the ability to give [Boston manager Terry Francona] the chance if he needs me to go two or three innings. I love pitching long periods."

NOTES: Pawtucket placed pitcher David Pauley on the seven-day disabled list yesterday with a strained right forearm. . . . Righty Chris Smith (9-6, 4.05 E.R.A.) was called up from Double-A Portland to replace Pauley and will start the matinee portion of today's day-night doubleheader at McCoy. Knuckleballer Charlie Zink (6-1, 4.19 E.R.A.) is scheduled to start the night game. . . . Pawtucket added infielder Ryan Khoury from Lowell yesterday. Khoury was Boston's 12th-round selection in last June's draft.

roblee@projo.com / (401) 277-7340