The bad news for Marshall is that the lefthander is back in the Lowell bullpen this summer because of lingering tightness and pain in his pitching shoulder, which kept Marshall in extended spring training and stalled his climb Fenwayward.

The good news for the Spinners is that Marshall was there to be called on last night to rescue Lowell from a bases-loaded, one-out mess in the fifth inning and protect a 4-2 lead.

Marshall solved the problem with back-to-back strikeouts and the Spinners lived on to defeat the Auburn Doubledays 7-2 at LeLacheur Park for their third straight victory.

Marshall struck out five over his 2 2/3 scoreless innings during

which he allowed one hit and no walks while lowering his ERA from 5.14 to 3.72. He had walked five and struck out eight over seven innings coming into last night.

“I was absolutely pumped to get in there,” said Marshall. “I hadn't had a chance yet to really get out there in those situations. It got the adrenaline flowing. All my stuff wasn't there. But I pitched to my strengths; used my curveball and changeup and found ways to get outs.”

Jeff Natale tacked on a two-run single during a three-run seventh inning for the Spinners.

Dominic Ramos (single, double), Jay Johnson (2 singles) and Willie Mota (2 singles) each had two hits for the Spinners. Mota snapped an 0-for-21 drought with an RBI single during Lowell's four-run fourth inning when Mitch Stachowsky contributed an RBI double.

“The last few games we've been hitting the ball, but we haven't been getting many hits,” said Spinners manager Luis Alicea. “Today we broke out a little bit (with 10 hits).”

Dark clouds rolled in from the west as the Spinners were putting four runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 4-1. Three outs from an official game and a possible abbreviated victory, Spinners reliever Modesto Ozuna seemed to be hurrying too much to get those outs.

Auburn loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fifth on a single and two walks. Ozuna then ker-plunked Ryan Patterson, the league's leading home-run hitter (6), with a pitch, forcing in a run that cut Lowell's lead to 4-2. Patterson was hit in the shoulder and left the game at the end of the half-inning.

Marshall came on after Patterson was hit and struck out the next two Doubledays. The heavens then opened. The tarp was rolled out. But the shower passed quickly.

Play resumed following an 18-minute delay.

“That was the biggest situation of the game,” said Alicea about the pre-storm bases-loaded mess that Marshall cleaned up. “We brought (Marshall) into a situation against some pretty big hitters and he took care of them pretty easily.”

In 16 2/3 innings for the Spinners two years ago, Marshall was 1-1 with a 1.08 ERA and six saves after being a fifth-round draft pick out of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he tied a school single-season record with 12 saves. In 16 2/3 innings for the Spinners that summer, Marshall allowed 10 hits and two walks while striking out 15.

The 6-foot-5, 190-pounder last season moved up to Sarasota, where he was 1-1 with a 3.49 ERA and one save. But Marshall missed a month and a half with shoulder problems.

“It's been kind of a bugging thing that affected my velocity and control,” said Marshall, who in 38 2/3 innings at Sarasota last seaso allowed 35 hits and walked 15 while striking out 39. “I am trying to find ways to get by, log some innings, build myself up and work my way back up the ladder.”

Spinners starter J.T. Zink in three innings last night allowed an unearned run on two hits and one walk. He struck out two. He was not bothered by a 10-minute delay before the start of the third inning when home-plate umpire Brad Myers checked the legality of one of the Spinners' bats. (Alicea said it checked out OK). The Red Sox have limited Zink to three innings in each of his four Spinner starts after he pitched 64 innings this spring for Everett (Wash.) Community College.

Dave Pevear's e-mail address is dpevear@lowellsun.com