•KEYS OF THE GAME: Joe Thurston’s baserunning skills produced the game’s first run. After lacing a single to center for the PawSox’ first hit, leading off the fourth, Thurston read Jed Lowrie’s blooper over shortstop well and was able to zip into third base without a throw. He hustled home on Keith Ginter’s one-out chopper to the mound . . . Singles by Jonathan Van Every and Jeff Bailey and a walk loaded the bases with none out in the eighth, and Ginter came through with a clutch two-out two-run single to left-center, boosting the PawSox’ lead to 3-0.

•HIGHLIGHTS: PawSox All-Star knuckleballer Charlie Zink was superb, and he had to be in beating Syracuse’s Scott Richmond in a pitcher’s duel. Zink allowed only two hits, a one-out looping single to right-center to Kevin Mench in the second and Danny Sandoval’s ground single up the middle with two outs in the ninth. The right-hander walked two and fanned eight in an efficient (93 pitches) outing that raised his record to 9-2 and lowered his earned-run average to 2.42, second-best in the league.

•THEY SAID IT: “Rich [Sauveur, PawSox pitching coach] has been able to get me locked in. I’m comfortable repeating my delivery. I’m throwing a lot of strikes and that gets them to swing early and I’ve been getting a lot of weak ground balls and pop-ups. When I was warming up, I had one of the worst bullpen (sessions) I’ve had. I was furious with the bullpen. But the wind was blowing in a different direction on the mound than it was in the bullpen and I was able to throw strikes,” said Zink.

•NOTES: Lowrie fouled a ball off his right ankle in the sixth and hobbled around but stayed in the game . . . Thurston, playing second base, made a good catch of a blooper in center when he and center fielder Van Every didn’t communicate well on Hector Luna’s ball in the fifth . . . It was the first complete game shutout for the PawSox since Jamie Brown blanked Scranton on Sept. 5, 2004 … The time of game was a snappy 2:18.

•UP NEXT: The PawSox’ Devern Hansack (4-8, 4.39) will face Kris Benson (0-1, 9.00) on a rehab stint for the opener of a two-game set with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, beginning 6:15 tonight at McCoy Stadium. There will be fireworks after the game.

skrasner@projo.com