ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Forgive Ron Johnson if he's scratching his head today.

"I've seen things in the last 9, 10, 11 innings that I haven't seen in a long time," the Pawtucket manager said last night after his club's fourth straight setback, a 1-0 loss in Rochester that dropped the PawSox (58-59) below .500 and 8 1/2 games behind the International League wild card-leading Red Wings.

The PawSox lost a pitchers' duel because of some dynamite defense in the late innings by Rochester (67-51), a night after losing a slugfest in an improbable way.

Monday's 9-8 defeat in 10 innings came after a catcher's interference call against Pawtucket with two outs in the ninth that sparked a four-run Rochester rally.

"We played well, pitched well, defended well," Johnson said of last night's effort, which featured only four PawSox hits.

"Right now, things aren't going our way, so we've got to find a way to turn the baseball gods around."

Rochester left-hander Dave Gassner, 27, pitching in his first game after offseason elbow surgery, kept the PawSox' bats quiet over the first five innings, allowing just one hit -- Adam Stern's single leading off the game.

Wings relievers Henry Bonilla and Beau Kemp held Pawtucket in check, but not without some late-inning theatrics again that snuffed out two scoring threats.

With one out in the seventh, Johnson hit-and-run with Jeff Bailey at first base and Tyler Minges at the plate. Minges lined a shot to right field, but Quinton McCracken caught it and threw a strike to first to double off Bailey by a step.

"Minges hit an absolute laser, but it was right at the guy," Johnson said.

Pawtucket's best chance to score came in the eighth. Alejandro Machado singled with two outs -- the PawSox' first hit since Stern's single -- and Stern doubled him to third.

Rochester left fielder Alex Romero made a perfect play, turning around just in time and fielding Stern's shot off the wall with his bare hand or Machado would have scored to tie it.

"If 'Sternie' elevates it, it's gone," Johnson said. "And then the ball goes right in his hand -- his bare hand?"

McCracken came up with another Web gem, sliding to snare Trent Durrington's sinking liner to right, ending the threat.

Left-hander Kason Gabbard (1-6) was the hard-luck loser. He turned in his first solid start in nearly a month, allowing only one run over six innings. It came on Garrett Jones' single in the first that scored Lew Ford, who had a led off with a double. Gabbard, 24, stranded eight, scattered four hits, struck out nine and walked five.

" 'Gabby' got a little heavy on the walks, but his stuff was really good so at times that it was shooting out of the strike zone," Johnson said.

Keith Foulke took over to start the seventh inning, but the former Boston Red Sox closer had a bit of trouble in his fourth rehab outing as he works his way back from elbow tendinitis. Foulke threw 18 pitches but only seven for strikes. He loaded the bases on a McCracken single and two walks, but got Glenn Williams' grounder to end the inning.

"I'm sure he's disappointed, but I'm looking more at his (pitches), and I thought his stuff was good," Johnson said. "He just struggled a little bit with his command."

The 33-year-old reliever, whose last Boston appearance came on June 11, is scheduled to pitch briefly again in today's 11:05 a.m. game to show that he's ready to go on back-to-back days.

NOTES: After today, the PawSox begin a four-game set tomorrow night at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Moosic, Pa. . . . Catcher Ken Huckaby, added to the roster earlier yesterday after having been designated for assignment by Boston, stole second in the third inning thanks to a nifty reach for the bag that helped him elude the tag even though the throw beat him to the base. . . . Outfielder Matt Van Der Bosch was sent down to Double-A Portland to make room for Huckaby. . . . Boston Red Sox vice president of communications Glenn Geffner, an occasional PawSox TV and radio broadcaster, was at last night's game and Monday's because his wife Christine is from nearby Hilton, N.Y. Geffner worked from 1993-96 for Rochester in media relations and broadcasting before leaving for the San Diego Padres just months before Frontier Stadium opened for baseball in 1997.