Portland Sea Dogs manager Arnie Beyeler joked that his pitcher in Thursday's exhibition looked very good, but the kid is probably moving up.

Yeah, that Beckett kid has a future in the bigs.

Josh Beckett pitched for the Sea Dogs Thursday, allowing one hit and no walks over four innings. He threw 47 pitches and struck out 6.

Beckett will pitch again in Florida on Tuesday. If all is okay, he will then leave the disabled list and join the Red Sox for the series next weekend in Toronto.

Now if Bartolo Colon has a solid outing Friday night, the staff will be looking in good shape ... which will be welcome after the command problems experienced by Matsuzaka and Lester.

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