Lowrie doesn't hesitate

They are not yet the Gold Dust twins - Jim Rice and Fred Lynn - but the Oregonians who hit 1-2 in the Red Sox order yesterday - Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie - are beginning to at least draw some buzz.

Together they went 4 for 9 and scored three of Boston's runs in a 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers.

Maybe it is not yet their time. Maybe Lowrie soon will be heading back to Pawtucket. Maybe Coco Crisp won't be traded this season and Ellsbury will have to platoon. But sooner or later Ellsbury and Lowrie likely will be regularly in the same lineup.

It was Lowrie's first major league start at second base, and all he did was have a central role in the seventh and eighth innings, when the Red Sox overturned a 5-0 Texas lead. Lowrie, in the lineup so Dustin Pedroia could take a day off, had struck out twice and popped out in his first three at-bats against veteran righthander Kevin Millwood. But in his fourth at-bat, Lowrie stroked a double off the Wall against Millwood to lead off the seventh and scored on David Ortiz's single to right field.

"He threw me some tough pitches in my first three at-bats," said Lowrie. "They're pitchers' pitches. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap and say good job to the pitcher. A couple of those pitches I couldn't do anything about anyway.

"The most important thing is that in my last at-bat against him, I got a good pitch to hit and I hit it. Sometimes when you run up against a pitcher with his quality of stuff, it's tough to get a bat on the ball. He's a veteran guy who has made pitches."

Lowrie might soon be resuming his Triple A development because Mike Lowell is progressing well from his sprained thumb. It would seem the Sox want Lowrie to play every day at Pawtucket, mostly at shortstop. But it just could be that the former Stanford standout makes it tough for the staff to send him back.

"I've just taken the same approach that I always had. I'm not going out there necessarily trying to impress anyone, I'm just trying to play my game," said Lowrie. "I'm not worried about [going back to Pawtucket]. It's something that I can't control. It's something I have to approach on a day-to-day basis. Whatever happens happens. That's fine."

In the eighth inning against sidearmer Wes Littleton, Lowrie doubled to right, scoring Ellsbury from first base with two outs. And then we saw the intangible stuff, as Ortiz beat the shift again and beat out a single to short right field. Lowrie rounded third and hesitated momentarily before bursting down the line to score.

"When I was rounding third there was a little confusion," said Lowrie. "[Third base coach] DeMarlo Hale was telling me to go and I thought he hesitated so I hesitated and then when I rounded third I just headed for home. I got an early break on it. Once I got around third, I just made a break there." Lowrie was told after the game by Hale that he did the right thing; if there's such hesitation just keep on running through.

Hitting .417 so far in his brief major league career, Lowrie got a taste of being on a big league team in spring training, where he became a favorite of the coaches and manager Terry Francona. The staff liked Lowrie's heads-up play, his knowledge of the game, his approach, and his desire to learn and get better. But you're never really ready until you come up, experience Fenway Park for the first time, and soak in the atmosphere. He saw firsthand yesterday the excitement of a major league rally in a city where baseball is the passion.

"I was pretty fired up," he said. "My heart was thumping pretty good today. That was one of the most exciting games I've ever been a part of. And it is only April. Like I said, you don't get that in Pawtucket."

Lowrie is a switch hitter who is being compared to former Red Sox batting champion Bill Mueller. He's even heard comparisons to Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts, though he doesn't appear to have Roberts's speed. He says he's a natural righthanded hitter but doesn't favor either side. In fact he made a point to say every day he comes to the park he feels a little different with his hitting.

"Sometimes it feels good from both sides, sometimes just one side," he said. "And sometimes it doesn't feel good at all and you have grind-it-out at-bats. There are a couple of other switch hitters here, so it's great to be able to talk to them. It requires you do a lot of work from both sides of the plate."

He learned to hit from Randy Brock, who owned a batting cage in Woodburn, Ore.

"He's the one I grew up learning how to hit from, but I've had so many other coaches, in high school and Little League, and I've always been taught to play the game the right way," he said. "I don't want to name other names because I don't want to leave anybody out. [Brock] was a high school coach but not at my high school. He owned a batting cage, so I took batting lessons from him since I was 7 years old."

Lowrie is a typical Sox hitter in that "early in the game I like to see as many pitches as I can. I like to see what he's got, with intentions of being able to solve him later in the game."

He's made three major league starts now, at three positions. The great debate is where Lowrie will end up. If he had gone to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal, he would have been a second baseman. In Boston, with Pedroia at second and Lowell at third, the only spot he could possibly crack is shortstop if Julio Lugo falters.

"I think the toughest move for me was going from short to third," he said. "The middle is very much the same. And I played second all the way through college. I've played second at a high level. At third, the footwork, turning the double plays and throwing across your body will take some getting used to. It's just a different angle and the more reps that I get the most comfortable I'll feel."

He will experience his first 11 a.m. game today on Patriots Day, but he says bring it on.

"I got to the park at 9 a.m. this morning, had breakfast, and got prepared," he said. "The earlier I get going, the more prepared I'll be."

Gold dust? Not quite yet. But Lowrie and Ellsbury make you want to accelerate the clock to see what they'll be like when they're the finished product.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.