01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 29, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Curt Schilling will be back on the mound tonight, pitching for the Pawtucket Red Sox in Charlotte in his first rehabilitation start since going on the disabled list after his last start for Boston, on April 23.

Boston manager Terry Francona said Schilling, trying to bounce back from right ankle troubles, would be scheduled to throw around 80 pitches.

Francona wouldn't commit to how many rehab starts Schilling will have to make, but the right-hander likely would have to make at least two. That would mean if, given a normal four days of rest between outings, Schilling would be on pace to pitch again on Monday, July 4, a day Pawtucket will be home against Charlotte.

The Sox had been hoping to send their own personnel to monitor Schilling's performance tonight, but because Boston is playing at home this afternoon in the series finale against Cleveland, that isn't possible.

Jed Hoyer, the Sox' director of baseball operations and assistant director of player development, was slated to make the trip to Charlotte to see Schilling. Boston pitching coach Dave Wallace, meanwhile, had spoken to Pawtucket pitching coach Mike Griffin about the Sox' game plan for Schilling.

"Once (Schilling) starts competing, he'll be on a tight rein. He'll want to throw 140 pitches," said Francona. "Griff knows what to look for and what's expected."

The results in Charlotte, said Francona, won't mean as much as Schilling's health during and afterward. Schilling, by the way, was 5-2 with a 3.18 earned-run average in seven starts for Charlotte in 1988, when it was Baltimore's Double A team.

As for the oft-asked question around here -- Who goes to the bullpen when Schilling returns to the rotation? -- Francona once again said that the decision will be made and announced when it has to be, after all parties have been apprised of the move, and not before.

Boo this

As he stepped to the plate leading off the second inning, the Indians' Aaron Boone was booed by Sox fans, who remembered his ALCS-winning homer from his brief time as a member of the Yankees in 2003.

Boone then swatted Wade Miller's first pitch into the Monster seats in left-center for his eighth homer of the year and the 100th of his career.

The music man

Bronson Arroyo was the host to an event at the Game On! cafe to announce his new CD release and concert on July 13. The CD's title is "Covering the Bases." The Sox pitcher will perform a concert at the Avalon Ballroom on Lansdowne Street. One song by Arroyo and his band will be a cover of "Dirty Water," and it will feature a video that includes background vocals by Sox teammates Johnny Damon and Kevin Youkilis.

Drive time

The Red Sox wives will conduct their 14th annual Can & Cash Drive for the hungry during home games against Toronto Saturday and Sunday. All cash and food collected will be donated to The Greater Boston Food Bank, which serves over 600 hunger-relief agencies in eastern Massachusetts.

While supplies last, the wives will be handing out an autographed picture of a Sox player to fans who donate $5 or bring five non-perishable food items.

Around the horn

Shortstop Edgar Renteria was charged with his 14th and 15th errors on one grounder in the second. First, Renteria bobbled Casey Blake's two-out bouncer and then, after hurriedly picking the ball up, he bounced a throw to first. Not only was Kevin Millar unable to scoop the belated throw, but his swipe at the ball caused it to go off his glove and hop into the seats. That gave Blake second base, too, which tacked another error onto Renteria's alarming team-leading total . . . Second baseman Mark Bellhorn made a diving stab to his right of a liner scalded by Jody Gerut in the third . . . Millar battled Cleveland starter Cliff Lee in a long at-bat in the fifth, but the 12th pitch was an offspeed breaking ball that froze Millar for a strikeout . . . Bill Mueller was given a night off, replaced at third by Youkilis, who was making his first start since June 12 on the road against the Cubs . . . In the space of a week, Lee made two starts against the Sox. Over the two outings, there were five times in which the Indians scored and Lee went out and promptly gave up runs in the Sox' next at-bat . . . Johnny Damon's looping single in the sixth extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

The Sox lost when leading after eight innings for the first time since July 19, 2004, when the Mariners tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and won, 8-4, on a grand slam by Bret Boone in the 11th . . . The Sox have lost only their second series of the year at Fenway Park . . . Boston, which had won 12 of 13 before coming home, has dropped two in a row for the first time since losing two straight to the Cubs, June 10-11 . . . Wade Miller had another uneven outing, lasting only 5 2/3 innings, surrendering five earned runs. He threw 117 pitches . . . Keith Foulke had been unscored upon in 9 of his previous 10 outings, giving up only 2 runs in 10 2/3 innings over that stretch . . . Travis Hafner is 6 for 10 in the series, with each of his hits -- four doubles, two homers, going for extra bases.