HIGHLIGHTS: There was a lot of noise at McCoy Stadium yesterday. Unfortunately for the home team, most of it came from the stands, not the PawSox bats.

The game was the first of two parks & recreation weekday matinees. School buses poured in bringing in kids and kids and more kids. The youngsters had fun on the beautiful afternoon, but they did not get to cheer as much as they would have liked.

David Pauley, bidding to join teammate Charlie Zink in the league lead with 13 victories, was not as sharp as he has been as his team lost, 8-3, to Rochester.

"He's had some outstanding outings. He was coming off possibly his best of the year,'' said Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson. "When a guy's thrown the way he's thrown this year, the expectations, when he takes the mound, are so high. You start expecting things.''

Pauley went five innings, allowed six hits and four runs, only two earned.

"Really, it wasn't bad,'' Johnson said of Pauley's outing. "He just wasn't quite as sharp with his command. There were more pitches thrown than he usually throws.''

THE KEYS: Defense. Normally that would be a good sign since Pawtucket leads the league in defense. It came in having made only 15 errors in its last 35 games.

In this one, though, shortstop Gil Velasquez, who might be the best of the Pawtucket defenders, could not handle a double-play grounder hit up the middle by Garrett Jones in the fifth. It led to two unearned runs. Catcher Dusty Brown also had an error.

"I can't remember the last time we had two errors in a game,'' Johnson said.

The other pivotal turn came in the first inning. Pawtucket scored twice and had the bases loaded. It had a chance to break the game open against Anthony Swarzak, who was making his Triple-A debut, for Rochester. But Swarzak struck out Velazquez.

PROSPECT WATCH: Jeff Natale, a former Trinity (Conn.) College star, homered in the fifth. It was Natale's second game back. He had begun the season at Portland, where he played last season.

The second baseman played only six games with Pawtucket before suffering a fractured left forearm when he was hit by a pitch April 21. He was the offensive player of the year in the Boston system in 2006, when he hit a combined .304 with 17 homers and 87 RBI for Greenville and Wilmington. He entered this year with a career on-base percentage of .440 in his first three seasons. He walked 222 times in 310 games.

GETTING CROWDED: Attendance for the matinee was 10,502. That made seven straight home games with more than 10,000, the first time that has been done in franchise history.

NEXT UP: Highly rated prospect Michael Bowden makes his McCoy debut when the series continues tonight at 7:05. Bowden has started two games on the road since being promoted from Portland and is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA. He faces Carmen Cali, who is 5-0 with a 3.40 ERA, for the Red Wings. It will be cap night with the first 4,000 fans receiving a PawSox cap.