PAWTUCKET -- Michael Bowden will skip his scheduled start Friday night in favor of Enrique Gonzalez, allowing Bowden to get the annual two weeks of midseason rest that the organization forces upon its prized young pitching prospects.

"That is a designed situation. We did it with Kris Johnson earlier, probably three or four weeks ago, where he got skipped a start. We do it with all our young starters, we'll probably do it with everybody," manager Ron Johnson said.

Bowden started off the season in impressive fashion, finishing the first month with an ERA under 1.00. But over his last 10 starts, he has a 4.94 ERA, leaving him with a 3.32 mark for the season. He has been working to incorporate a slider into his repertoire, and the time off should allow him both to rest and to improve his arsenal.

The rotation change pushed reliever Billy Traber into a spot start Thursday night and he performed well, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing two runs.

Johnson wouldn't say if Bowden –– or someone else –– would make the first start after the All-Star break. The PawSox enter the break on July 13 and resume play on

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Reliever Marcus McBeth's piano playing is contagious. Once his teammates found out about McBeth's hidden talent, they decided they wanted to join in, too.

McBeth is a secret piano virtuoso, as the rest of the PawSox learned a few weeks ago when McBeth unveiled his skills on a hotel lobby piano.

Now, Michael Bowden has bought a Casio keyboard for the clubhouse, and plans to learn how to play.

"He's going to show me a few things," Bowden said.

The 22-year-old pitcher has never played an instrument before, and will be starting from scratch, learning largely from books and experimentation.

The team was already making good use of Bowden's purchase tonight, and McBeth entertained a crowd of his teammates for a half-hour before the game.

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ABC News correspondent John Berman threw out the first pitch tonight, as part of a story on the seemingly simple art of tossing out a ceremonial ball.

President Obama will throw out the first pitch at the major league All-Star game July 14, so Berman, a Red Sox fan and a native of Carlisle, Mass., learned how its done at McCoy.

He practiced with catcher Mark Wagner before the game, and then fired a pretty good pitch in to Wagner to officially kick off the night.

The segment will air Sunday on Good Morning America.

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PawSox pitcher Clay Buchholz was selected to the Triple-A All Star Game in Portland, Ore., but with his next start set for Sunday, he wouldn't have pitched anyway, so he bowed out. It was announced Thursday night that Buchholz will be replaced by Durham's Dale Thayer.

dbarbari@projo.com