Lowrie

PAWTUCKET — Jed Lowrie deserves to sleep late this morning. The Pawtucket Red Sox shortstop works nights, and the last two mornings he was up early.

Wednesday, he had a 7:30 appointment with his dentist in Newton, Mass. Yesterday, he addressed a 7:30 breakfast meeting of Bristol County Savings Bank employees at Highland Country Club in Attleboro.

He endured the former and enjoyed the latter.

“It’s something I get more comfortable with the more I do,” he said of the speaking engagement. “It’s easy to talk about baseball because it’s a passion that I have. People just wanted to hear stories and experiences from my past and obviously my experiences with the Red Sox so far this year.”

And what experiences he has had. Spring training and the Japan trip with the Red Sox. Called up to Boston on April 10 after Mike Lowell’s thumb injury and in uniform that night at Fenway Park after playing a day game at McCoy Stadium. A month with the big club that included an eight-game hitting streak, a .310 batting average in 17 games and his first major-league home run May 10 at Minnesota.

Optioned to Pawtucket on May 11 and homered in his second at-bat the next day. Sidelined 12 games with a left wrist injury suffered when a Buffalo base runner slid into his glove hand. Returned to the lineup and last night extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a third-inning single after Joe Thurston’s three-run homer.

“It’s been a fun year, a lot of good experiences, obviously, going to Japan and then getting called up for the first time,” he said. “This game is a marathon, you know, and you just have to maintain the course and maintain your approach and hopefully everything turns out in the end.”

Lowrie was Boston’s minor-league offensive player of the year last year after splitting time between Portland and Pawtucket. He reached base in 36 of the 40 games he played for the PawSox, so manager Ron Johnson is not surprised by his performance this season.

“To get to the big leagues and hit .310,” Johnson said. “The guy can hit. He controls the zone, gives you a professional at-bat each time at the plate. To me the thing about Jed is even when he strikes out he looks good.”

“He has a real good understanding of the strike zone,” said the manager. “He knows what his strengths are and doesn’t go out of those strengths that often. He’s a real solid player.”

The 14-game hitting streak is “something that’s fun,” Lowrie said, but he added that “I’m more concerned with doing my job, getting on base, having good at-bats and doing what I can to help the team win. If the hitting streak continues, so be it. If not, I still have to come the next day and play.”

Lowrie makes big plays in the field. Last night he saved at least one run when he made a diving short-hop grab of Drew T. Anderson’s two-out dirt-scuffing liner to his right and threw Anderson out by a step, stranding Louisville runners on first and third.

Lowrie was an All-American at Stanford and the Pac 10 player of the year in 2004. The Red Sox drafted him in 2005, making this his fourth professional season. He has returned to Stanford in the offseason and needs one more quarter to earn his bachelor’s degree.

mszostak@projo.com