Last night was a downer for Red Sox spot starter David Pauley, who yielded five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

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The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — Almost all starters prefer to be left alone on the day they’re scheduled to pitch. In many cases, not even their teammates go near them, let alone members of the media. And maybe if David Pauley stays in the majors for an extended period, he’ll start to feel that way, too.

But not yesterday.

Pauley arrived in the almost-deserted Red Sox clubhouse at about 4:10 yesterday. Most of the players were on the field getting ready for the start of batting practice, and most of the reporters were upstairs in the interview room for the daily meeting with manager Terry Franconca. I had hung back to talk to Mike Lowell and Alex Cora, both of whom are on the disabled list and who were taking early BP.

Pauley walked in and saw Pam Ganley from the Red Sox’ public-relations staff. He smiled and gave her a hug. Then he saw me and smiled.

I’d covered the Pawtucket Red Sox on Sunday and Monday, and Pauley — even though he never pitched — was a big story both days. He was scheduled to start Sunday against Buffalo, but 45 minutes before game time he was scratched by the Boston front office. The Sox’ brass told the PawSox they might need Pauley with the parent club because of a flu bug that was going through the team.

He didn’t pitch Sunday, but he didn’t get called up, either. After the game, he said he was happy to be on call and wasn’t sure if he’d be reporting to McCoy Stadium or Fenway Park on Monday.

When I got to McCoy on Monday, Pauley was in the clubhouse. “Still here, huh?” I asked. He smiled.

But yesterday, there he was at Fenway.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I got the call,” he said. “about 15 minutes ago.”

“Where were you?”

“At a hotel here in Boston. They told me to come up [Monday] night, just in case. I got a call a couple of hours ago saying no, then another call about 15 minutes ago saying yes.”

“What’s the situation?”

“I’m starting, as far as I know.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Oh! Sorry, I shouldn’t be bothering you.”

“Nah. It’s fine.”

Manny Delcarmen then came over and welcomed Pauley, who was given a locker between Javy Lopez and Julian Tavarez. Cora came in, saw Pauley and went over and gave him a hug. A short time later, when the reporters who had been at Francona’s news conference arrived, a couple went over and chatted with Pauley. He talked to them, too. If he was nervous or uptight, he sure wasn’t showing it.

Maybe in the days to come he won’t be as approachable when he’s scheduled to pitch.

Yesterday, though, he showed that while he may be a big-league player, Pauley hasn’t copped a big-league attitude.

pkenyon@projo.com