PAWTUCKET – Jed Lowrie is on a mission to become the Red Sox starting shortstop for the rest of the year.

It’s a mission that he hopes to accomplish as early as next month.

He believes that he earned the starting job during spring training. He fought so hard to keep it back in April that he didn’t tell anyone that his left wrist had been bothering him for weeks.

He thought he could play through the pain, like he did late last season. He was wrong. After getting the wrist examined by his doctor, it was revealed that the injury was worse than Lowrie had thought. He had a broken bone that would require surgery.

Lowrie went on the disabled list on April 13 after going 1 for 18 in a five-game stretch. The surgery sidelined him for six weeks. He began his journey back to Boston late last month by fielding balls and taking batting practice before taking his next step – participating in a 20-day minor league rehab assignment beginning June 21. In his third game back, he got hit by a pitch in his left knee, resulting in a setback that kept him out of the PawSox next two games.

He returned to Pawtucket’s lineup Saturday, but left Sunday’s game early because of continuing knee discomfort. He sat out Monday at his own request, and was expected to return to the PawSox' lineup on Tuesday.

“I kind of feel like I just need to get healthy and continue to play, and prove to them that I’m the player that they saw in spring training,” Lowrie said. “That I’m the player that I was when I first got called up, so that’s just for me to get healthy and go out there and do it.”

Lowrie said he noticed his play improving by leaps and bounds over his first two weeks of rehab. In his last strength test, two weeks ago, he said his wrist was about 85 percent.

“All I can hope for is continuing to get better,” Lowrie said. “The last part is always going to be the hardest, because you’re working with small numbers as opposed to make huge gains from the start. So as long as it continues to get better, that’s all that I care about.”

Boston manager Terry Francona told a contingent of reporters in Atlanta on Saturday that he believes Lowrie joining the Red Sox after the All-Star break is a more realistic goal.

“We’ve kind of told him all along, ‘Let us know how you feel, when you think you’re ready. We don’t want to rush you,’ and that was even when things weren’t going real well here,” Francona said. “We said, ‘Just kind of stay on the schedule, and we’ll try not to make decisions based on how we’re playing.’ That’s not a good way to do it. I think it’s easy to [rush him], but it doesn’t help anybody.”

Lowrie appreciates the Red Sox’ approach.

“I think Tito does a really good job of maintaining that this situation for me is about my health,” Lowrie said. “It’s about me getting back out there and ready to play, as opposed to rushing me back out there because they would need me out there.”

Boston’s current starting shortstop, Nick Green, has played well, so there really is no rush.

“He’s playing great. He’s doing a good job,” Francona said. “There’s no getting around it. We don’t even want to get around it.”

“I know he’s played well, but I can’t say that I’ve followed [him] day-by-day,” Lowrie said. “I like to check and see how the team is doing, and I’m glad he’s playing well. I’m glad the team is winning, because I think that would make it even harder for me if they weren’t playing well. And I think that’s a good thing, because the bottom line obviously, I play this game because I love it and want to have a personal accomplishment. When you play this game, you play for the team, but with personal motivations.”

As much as the Red Sox are looking forward to the return of Lowrie, they want to make sure not to push him through his progression at this point.

“He needs to play a little bit,” Francona said. “He lost a couple of days with his knee, that doesn’t change a whole lot. He needs to get some at-bats under his belt.”

While starting right away once he joins the Red Sox would be Lowrie’s dream, he doesn’t know if that will be the case once he gets there.

“That’s something that in this game works itself out,” Lowrie said. “I know what I’m capable of and I believe that I’m a starting shortstop in the major leagues. That’s something for me to go up there and play, and prove day in and day out. It doesn’t matter if you are an 11-year guy or a one-year guy, you still have to go out there and prove it every day.”

roblee@projo.com