BOSTON — Red Sox pitcher Bartolo Colon suffered a minor setback in his comeback attempt and will miss his scheduled start for the PawSox today. The veteran right-hander has been placed on the minor-league seven-day disabled list, retroactive to April 4, with an oblique issue. It doesn’t appear to be serious and he will be examined at Fenway Park today.

“I don’t want to say it’s a strain,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “He has some pain in his right oblique. With those types of things we don’t want it to turn into something.”

Colon signed with the Red Sox as a minor-league free agent at the start of spring training and had a solid camp. He’s already worked one effective game for Pawtucket, last Thursday, and was scheduled to make two more starts in order to bring his pitch count to 100. Now it will be a wait and see.

“Had actually did great,” said Francona of Colon’s spring training. “There was not a lot of complaining on his side of this. It was more of the trainers and medical staff in Pawtucket saying, ‘Let’s stop this.’ You don’t want to deal with this for 28-30 starts if you can put an end to it now.”

Colon was in the PawSox’ clubhouse yesterday lounging around with everyone else before last night’s game. The injury did not happen the day he pitched.

“It never came up the day he threw,” said PawSox manager Ron Johnson. “He came in the next day and got his full work in, his post-start workout in there with Carl Kochan, a supervised workout. He went out on Friday and was playing some catch. That was the day we got rained out. He started to feel a little bit of tightness.

“Obviously, once somebody of that magnitude expresses that he’s had a little bit of tightness, then Greg [Barajas, the trainer] and everybody started talking to him. The decision was let’s err on the side of caution. He threw the ball way too good the other day not to.”

Johnson echoed Francona’s statement, saying it’s not a big thing; it’s just a little tight in there.

“When you have something like that, I think the natural progression is to shut down three to five days,” added Johnson.

Chris Smith was called up from Double-A Portland and will be activated to make the start in place of Colon today.

No aftereffects

Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett was able to go through his normal day-after routine yesterday morning at Fenway Park less than 24 hours after returning to the rotation. He missed the majority of spring training, including the team’s trip to Japan, due to back and hip issues. Beckett wore shorts, long sleeves and high socks while he played catch in right field with trainer Mike Reinold for approximately five minutes yesterday morning. Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills looked on. Beckett allowed five runs on three hits in 4 2/3 innings of work against the Blue Jays on Sunday in Toronto.

Francona spoke with Beckett yesterday morning and said he felt good.

“He felt like he pitched, but there were no lower-back issues,” said Francona. “It was all strictly stiffness from pitching, which I think is good news.”

Ready and able

Daisuke Matsuzaka will start today’s home-opener against the Tigers. He spent yesterday morning running sprints in the outfield. When he was done with that, he stood on the mound and threw a few shadow pitches, which is his normal routine the day before he works.

“I think he likes the responsibility,” said Francona of starting today. “I’m glad about that because there are some guys who do like that responsibility. When we told him he was opening in Japan he said, ‘That’s not the first time I’ve done that.’ He’s right.”

Around the bases

When the players arrived yesterday morning, they found that their clubhouse had received an impressive facelift during the offseason. It now has a retro feel to it with the exposed brick from the original foundation showing, along with the original open ceiling. It’s brighter and appears to be roomier. … With the Tigers sending lefty Kenny Rogers to the mound today, the Sox’ Coco Crisp will play center field and J.D. Drew will be in right field. Jacoby Ellsbury will not start. … The Red Sox are 62-45 in home-openers. … Former Red Sox players Doug Mirabelli and Royce Clayton will participate in the pregame ceremonies.

Bobby Doerr Day

Hall of Fame second baseman Bobby Doerr, who played 14 seasons with the Red Sox, turned 90 yesterday and Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski declared it Bobby Doerr Day in that state.

“It is appropriate to thank and honor this accomplished and most modest gentleman as an Oregon legend,” Kulongoski read from the proclamation.

Doerr, who hails from Oregon, compiled 2,042 hits, 223 homers, 1,247 RBI and a .288 batting average from 1937-51. He also served as a coach with the Sox from 1967-69.

Doerr was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986 after he was elected by the Veterans Committee, and the Red Sox retired his No. 1 jersey in 1988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

pkenyon@projo.com