PAWTUCKET — In the third inning of Sunday’s game against Durham, Charlie Zink began warming up in the Pawtucket Red Sox bullpen.

 It was not because he was needed. Michael Bowden was on the mound and pitching well. It was merely a lengthy work session for Zink, who is normally a member of the PawSox’ starting rotation.

 It is the only time Zink will be seen pitching for 11 days.

 He last started on June 1 in Indianapolis and is not scheduled to pitch again until Friday in Syracuse. Because of the rehab of John Smoltz, weather problems and a day off, Zink has been skipped in the rotation.

 That might not be unusual for a bottom-of-the-rotation starter, but Zink happens to be the reigning Pitcher of the Year in the International League. The knuckleball specialist from El Dorado Hills, Calif., was 14-6 in 2008, with a 2.84 earned run average.

 Zink is not particularly happy about being the odd man out, even if it is only temporary.

 “I don’t really have a whole lot to say about it. It bothered me,’’ he said. “But I guess I just was unlucky. (Smoltz’s appearance) fell on my day and they didn’t feel like pushing anyone else back.’’

 Zink had not been as strong so far this season as last. He is 4-4 with a 3.67 ERA in 10 appearances, eight of them starts. But that’s part of the reason he is not happy to be on the sidelines for so long. He feels he is just now returning to being himself.

 He related an interesting story about how he got thrown off course in spring training.

 “It was a blessing and a curse to go to big-league camp and be around Tim Wakefield all the time,’’ Zink said. Wakefield, of course, has done what Zink is trying to do — make a career out of throwing the knuckleball.

 “He’s been such a role model for me. I tried to start throwing like him,’’ Zink said. “My mechanics changed. Everything changed. It took probably two months of working things out before I figured out that I can’t throw like him. I just can’t do it.

 “I tried to change my motion and little things in my mechanics to throw more like him. It really messed me up big-time for the first few starts. He’s such a good person for me to model my career after that I tried to be exactly like him instead of being myself. It took a while to change back to myself.

 “When I would throw my bullpen [sessions], it would be with him and having him help me out, which was really beneficial. But then it started turning into me trying to throw exactly like him and trying to do everything like him,’’ Zink added. “We’re just different pitchers. We throw the same pitch, but we throw it differently. It’s hard not to take his advice because I definitely cherish every word he says. I hold it to the highest standard. But I’m just not him.’’

 Zink stayed a couple days later than the rest of the Pawtucket team in spring training trying to work things out. But in his first start he went 4 1/3 innings, allowed four hits and four runs. What was most telling was that he walked six, with only one strikeout.

 Through four appearances, Zink was 0-3 with a 5.64 ERA. As he describes it, he was, “all messed up.’’

 He began working more with pitching coach Rich Sauveur, a former knuckleball pitcher himself and the man Zink credited last year with being a huge boost in his career.

 “I dug myself a big hole to start, but I’m slowly starting to get back to where I want it to be again,’’ Zink said. “I’m not giving up a lot of hits, not a lot of solid contact, which is what I want.

 “Every year, you want to try to make improvements on things. I’m not sure there were a whole lot of improvements to be made on the type of year I had last year,’’ he said. “It’s more trying to be more consistent instead of trying to change things drastically. I should have just kept trying to keep polishing everything I was doing.’’

 A big concern, he said, is getting his walk-to-strikeout ratio back to where it should be. Last year, he had more than twice as many strikeouts (106) as walks (49). This year, he has 38 walks with only 25 strikeouts.

 He feels those numbers will improve — when he gets a chance to take the mound again.