ELLSBURY

PAWTUCKET — Craig Hansen is trying to find his comfort zone.

The hard-throwing relief pitcher for the Pawtucket Red Sox struggled during spring training and that carried into the first half of the regular season. But, over the last few weeks the right-hander has started to find his groove.

Hansen relieved Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who began his two-game rehab stint with Pawtucket last night, and the youngster was solid. Hansen worked three shutout innings, allowing one hit with five strikeouts to help Pawtucket to a 6-5 victory over the Louisville Bats at McCoy Stadium. The PawSox’ Bobby Scales drove in the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning.

For Hansen, it was just another example that he’s on the upswing.

It was about a month ago when he stopped worrying about everything that goes along with pitching and decided to just simply pitch.

“I know I can do this,” he said. “Getting drafted in the spot that I did, the [Red Sox] believe I’m the guy who can go up there and produce for them and that’s what I want to do. I want to do my job and whatever job they want me to do.”

Boston’s first-round selection (26th overall) in the 2005 draft, he’s allowed only three earned runs in his last 10 2/3 innings of work.

“I feel like the whole year has been pretty good,” said Hansen. “Maybe the stats don’t show it, but I’m developing more as a player. I’m just working on the things I need to work on to make sure that when I’m needed, if I’m needed, I’ll be ready.”

There was a report recently that Hansen’s agent, Scott Boras, has his own coaching staff and they changed the way Hansen pitched from his days when he dominated at the collegiate level at St. John’s where he was the 2005 Big East Pitcher of the Year.

When asked about it yesterday, Hansen said the changes weren’t a big contrast to what he was already doing.

“Certain things were changed,” he said. “Just mechanically and I’m slowly adjusting back to whatever feels comfortable for me at the moment. It was just some little things, nothing too drastic.”

Whatever he’s been doing of late seems to be working.

“I’m really excited about what he’s doing,” said Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson. “He had five punchouts in three innings of work [last night], that’s pretty good. This guy got drafted and signed for a reason. He’s got stuff and when his stuff is hard and in the strike zone, he’s not going to get hit because the quality of his stuff.”

Ellsbury staying put, for now

When PawSox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury left last night’s game after the seventh inning, there was some speculation that the prospect could be getting recalled by Boston. But that wasn’t the reason for his leaving the game. Ellsbury apparently tweaked his groin. It doesn’t appear to be serious and he is expected to be back in the lineup today. He made his debut in right field on Friday night for the PawSox, ironically with J.D. Drew battling a sore hamstring for Boston.

Players love McCoy

McCoy Stadium was packed with 11,227 fans last night, the seventh biggest crowd all-time at the storied ballpark. No doubt one of the reasons for such a big draw was the fact Schilling was making a rehab start. In fact, scalpers were peddling tickets outside the stadium prior to the game.

McCoy is second to none during the summer when it comes to attendance and both PawSox players and visiting clubs love to play here.

“Coming up through the minors, I think everybody has been in the situation where they’ve been somewhere and haven’t played in front of anybody,” said Scales. “It’s tough. It’s always fun to play in front of people. The more people the better, and the fans here are fantastic. They love you and they want you and expect you to do well. I really do enjoy playing here. Obviously you want to be up top but if there’s a place you want to be in Triple A, McCoy is one of them.”

Recently one visiting manager said he wish he could play all of his home games here. The largest crowd ever at McCoy came on Sept. 5, 2004 when the PawSox played Scranton in front of 11,802 fans.

Around the bases…

PawSox pitchers tied a season-high for strikeouts with 15 against the Bats last night. … Warwick native Rob Healey was the home-plate umpire for last night’s game. Healey, 31, is in his second year of umpiring at the Triple-A level. … The first 3,000 female fans attending today’s game at McCoy will receive a PawSox pink T-shirt.

jmcdonal@projo.com