By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET – Funny how a touch of the flu can migrate from Fenway Park down to McCoy Stadium.

The bug itself didn’t show up at Ben Mondor Way, but did cause some reshuffling on the part of the Pawtucket Red Sox. With whispers of the flu making the rounds in the Red Sox clubhouse, the PawSox scratched scheduled starter David Pauley.
Official word came mere minutes before the one o’clock. start. Thrust into emergency duty was reliever Edgar Martinez, who prior to Sunday had made 147 appearances, all coming in relief.
PawSox manager Ron Johnson praised Martinez for his 4 1/3 scoreless innings, saying “he was the story of the day.”
The newsmaker, however, was Pauley.
Pauley wasn’t in full uniform 45 minutes before game time. He asked a reporter what the temperature was before taking a walk outside. He exchanged a few words with Johnson upon returning.
“They told me about 12:20 that there was a situation going on and that I had to hold back,” said Pauley following Pawtucket taking down Buffalo, 5-1. “That’s all I’ve heard since then.”
Johnson threw a blanket over the “Pauley taking Clay Buchholz’s spot in the rotation” rumors by saying “David has not been called up. We don’t have a scheduled start for him in the big leagues. We held him back in case something came up.”
Johnson did mention he expected to remain in contact with the Red Sox high-ups throughout last evening. Buchholz is in line to start this morning in the annual “Patriots’ Day” contest.   
What made Pauley a likely target is that he’s a 40-man roster guy with plenty of unused options. He has been summoned to Boston just once (2006). 
There’s a greater good to take into account said Johnson regarding having one of his pitchers miss a starting assignment. “Obviously we’re here to supply our major league club should the need arise,” the skipper said. “There was a concern with some guys being sick, so we had the situation of bumping David.”
Pauley was pleased his name was mentioned as a potential call-up.
“It’s great a feeling to know there might be a possibility and at least be thought of in the situation,” said Pauley. “We play for that every day and that’s what we prepare for.”
At this point Pauley doesn’t know what his next move will entail. Asked if a bullpen session is in the works, he replied “It’s really up in the air. You just things as they come.”
 
Sore subject
Bobby Kielty wasn’t present at the ballpark for the second straight day. Turns out the soreness in his left hand presented enough discomfort that the outfielder landed on the seven-day disabled list, the move retroactive to Saturday.
Kielty, who has just four hits in his last 22 at-bats, visited a hand specialist Sunday one day after a trip to the doctor’s. “He could play through the pain, but he’d rather not have any,” said Johnson, who believed Kielty was progressing just fine.
Of course that was followed by an official announcement moments before Sunday’s first pitch.
Taking Kielty’s roster spot was outfielder Bryan Pritz, who made a pinch-running appearance in the eighth. Pritz spent the bulk of last season with Double-A Portland, though did appear in five games with Pawtucket (.188 average). The 25-year-old had been the PawSox DL since the start of the season.

Bailey perched at the top
By definition, Pawtucket doesn’t contain a clear-cut leadoff hitter. That’s why it shouldn’t come as a total shocker that PawSox skipper Ron Johnson penciled Jeff Bailey in to the top spot Sunday.
“You at the situation we’re in and look at what Jeff does well. He has good plate discipline,” said Johnson.
This certainly classifies as fresh territory for the 29-year-old Bailey. He has appeared in more than 1,000 games in the minors. He has never once seen his name perched atop the batting order.
“I’ve been around so long that it’s hard to surprise me,” said Bailey, who finished with four at-bats. “If this gets me one extra at-bat, which it did, then it’s a good thing.”
Bailey enjoyed his day as Pawtucket’s numero uno. He broke up a scoreless game in the fifth on one swing, smashing a 1-1 pitch in the left field bullpen for a three-run home run. He followed up with a two-out single in the seventh. Bailey attempted to flash some wheels, but was caught stealing at second.
“I blame [Johnson] because he gave me the signal,” joked Bailey.
“He got a late jump,” said Johnson. 
Moving Bailey up in the order made the most sense after Johnson decided to give Jeff Natale the day off. Natale has manned the leadoff position in all four games since joining the PawSox last Wednesday. The other candidates Johnson mentioned he took under consideration were Keith Ginter, Dusty Brown and Chad Spann.
Bailey becomes the fourth leadoff batter Johnson has used this season, joining Joe Thurston (12 starts), Gil Velazquez (one start) and Natale.

Hansack coming along
Devern Hansack, on the DL since April 12 (forearm contusion), has shown enough improvement that he could be back on the mound sometime this week. He threw on flat ground last week from 120 feet and experienced no setbacks. He is expected to take another step on Pawtucket’s off-day on Tuesday.
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EXTRA BASES: Kyle Snyder makes his first start in Pawtucket in almost two years this afternoon (12:05 start) in the finale of the three-game set with the Indians. His expected workload will fall in the neighborhood of 50-55 pitches. Snyder threw 35 pitches in a relief outing last Wednesday. Snyder will be opposed by the Indians’ Jeremy Sowers (0-2, 3.50 ERA). … Portland starter Justin Masterson lowered his ERA to 0.95 after tossing five shutout innings Saturday in a 6-2 win for the Sea Dogs. He matched his career high with 10 strikeouts, all of them swinging.