Lowrie returns to Portland

PORTLAND, Maine -- Jed Lowrie, standing in the clubhouse around 6 p.m., took a look at a forecast on the TV in the players' lounge area. It called for small hail tonight. Lowrie wasn't exactly pleased at first, then had to smile.

It's not as if he's had good luck so far in his rehab, so why stop now?

Lowrie is scheduled to play in Portland tonight -- where it's currently pouring -- after playing nine innings yesterday for the first time since before his April 21 surgery, which caused some soreness after Monday night's game. He admitted to being slightly frustrated at the slow pace of his rehab.

"I felt like before I got hit in the knee I was ahead of schedule with the wrist," Lowrie said. "It felt great. I just haven't had any consistency throughout this whole thing, which like I said, it's just a little bit of bad luck, and something that I'm working hard to get through and getting back out there and playing."

Not that the weather is helping at all. Nor would Lowrie say he's been snake-bit though the process.

"Just some bad luck," he said. "You get hit and usually it's something you can play through. I just hit in a spot where it didn't allow me to really move my leg. I couldn't straighten my leg for about four or five days. It's just bad luck."

But his wrist is getting better. As Lowrie said, "That's the thing. The wrist feels great. I can take BP all day. I need to test it in games. That's the only way it's going to get better, going out and playing like I did yesterday and getting at bats is what I'm looking forward to doing."