PAWTUCKET -- If the Pawtucket Red Sox have had an MVP (as in most valuable person) over the last 48 hours, Matt McKinnon would be the man.

McKinnon is the field superintendent at McCoy Stadium, the person responsible for making sure the field is ready for games. The constant rain has made his job difficult.

"It's been an interesting summer, to put it lightly," McKinnon said Thursday as he watched the PawSox play Scranton/Wilkes Barre. "It's meant a lot of extra work. A lot more time staring at the silly radar. It seems like that's all I do. It's a daily occurrence . . . It's been a lot of headaches, I guess is the best way to put it."

The entire season has been wet, but the last two days have taken it to another level.

"We've had close to four inches (of rain) in the last 36 hours," McKinnon said. "The field is a bit spongy, but it can take it."

There was mud in front of both dugouts and on the warning track, especially in left. That was because of a drainage problem

"One of the drains got squished," McKinnon said. "It decided not to work today . . . We pumped it the best we could, then broke out the speedy dry."

McKinnon has two assistants who work with him and reinforcements who are brought in when needed.

"I've got the best crew in baseball. I don't care what anyone says," he said. "We're really earning our money this summer."

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Jed Lowrie did some running Thursday at McCoy, but doesn't expect to know what impact it will have until Friday morning.

The infielder is on rehab assignment from Boston after wrist surgery. But his progress has been slowed because of a knee problem suffered when he was hit by a pitch in his fifth game with Pawtucket. In some ways, he feels as if he is in a Catch-22 situation.

"Nobody's even talking about my wrist right now. It's my knee," said Lowrie, who visited with medical people in Boston Wednesday, an off day for the PawSox.

"The knee is short-term, but it's keeping me from playing. I'm here to play because of my wrist. But I can't play because of my knee. I feel like it's a Catch-22," the former Stanford star said.

Lowrie sat out again Thursday night. He said that if his knee feels good when he wakes up Friday, he hopes to be able to play when the PawSox continue their series against the Yankees with a 6:15 game.

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A good night for Paul McAnulty turned sour in the sixth inning.

McAnulty had homered for Pawtucket's first run in the first. Then he doubled and scored the PawSox second run in the fourth. In the sixth, McAnulty was hit on his left knee by a pitch from Scranton starter Sergio Mitre.

He stayed in as Chris Carter walked, but then limped off when he was replaced by pinch-runner Jeff Natale. Natale scored Pawtucket's third run.

pkenyon @projo.com