This time promises to be different for Michael Bowden. Just his role alone assures that.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said Sunday that Bowden has been called up and will be ready for action out of the bullpen starting today. To make room, the Red Sox designated catcher Gustavo Molina for assignment, leaving the Red Sox with the standard two catchers, Dusty Brown and Kevin Cash.

In years past, Bowden had been touted as a finesse right-hander with tremendous make-up, and would eventually find his way into the starting rotation. Selected by the Red Sox in the first round – 47th overall – of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Bowden made his MLB debut in 2008. He allowed seven hits and two runs over five innings as the Red Sox beat the White Sox, 8-2, giving Bowden his first major league win in his debut on Aug. 30.

[Click here to listen to why Terry Francona and the Red Sox are excited about Bowden.]

Since then, he’s appeared in eight games but only once more as a starter, going 1-1 with a 9.56 ERA as he struggled to find his command and his comfort zone.

“This is a kid that’s certainly been on the radar for the last couple of years and he’s come up and had spot starts and had a chance to maybe make the team out of spring training in the bullpen,” Francona said. “That didn’t happen for a lot of reasons and I think he was frustrated.”

Then he got a call on the Tuesday before the All-Star break and that all changed. He was informed that he was being taken out of the Pawtucket rotation and being placed in the PawSox bullpen, prepping for a possible move to the big league club’s pen.

The 23-year-old Bowden was good as a starter for the PawSox, going 4-3 with a respectable 3.77 ERA in 16 starts. Then he got the call on July 6.

Bowden was dominant in four games as a reliever. He went 2-0, with a save. He allowing just one hit in six innings, holding batters to a .056 average against, striking out six and walking none in the process.

“He goes back down to Triple-A, gets his starters’ innings, gets his pitches going, moves to the bullpen, which we’ve done with other guys, and now gets his chance to contribute,” Francona said.

So, how will Bowden be used in Francona’s bullpen?

“Some of it could depend on his success and things like that,” Francona said. “He’s a young, durable arm, which is good. You can’t just say he’s going to throw the sixth inning. He’s got [six] innings of relief under his belt at Triple-A but we’ll see. The idea is to get him here and have him help us. We don’t want to hide him and get him pitch the third inning of blowout games. We think this kid can really help us win some games.”

Meanwhile, Francona also said that he will sit down with Josh Beckett, pitching coach John Farrell and general manager Theo Epstein to determine whether the ace right-hander is ready to return to the rotation this week on the West Coast road trip or if he needs one more rehab start to shake off some of the “rust” he is still working through in his comeback from a strained lower back suffered on May 18 against the Yankees.

“We may be able to come to a conclusion on what we need to do or we may actually wait until he throws his side,” Francona said. “There’s no really technical reason it has to be made now.”

Beckett, pitching in what both he and the Red Sox hoped would be his final tune-up before rejoining the team, allowed three earned runs in four-plus innings for Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday night in Syracuse.

Beckett threw 81 pitches, allowing five hits, walking a batter and striking out three as the PawSox fell in Syracuse. It was the second rehab start for Beckett, who has been on the disabled list since May 19 with a lower back strain.

“Physically, he felt fine,” Francona said. “I think he said he felt some rust in just the game itself, which I think is to be expected when you’re pitching to guys you don’t know, catchers, things like that.”

J.D. Drew didn’t start on Sunday and for good reason. Lefty starter C.J. Wilson entered the game for Texas, allowing just nine hits in 94 at-bats by lefties this season, with 24 strikeouts. He fanned David Ortiz twice before getting him to fly out to left in the sixth.