By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET – The Pawtucket Red Sox tried like heck to get Monday’s contest with the Charlotte Knights in, but Mother Nature simply refused to corporate.
Monday’s contest was branded a washout, setting up a doubleheader that begins at 5:35 this afternoon. Kris Johnson, who hasn’t throw a pitch since May 31, gets the ball in the opener with knuckleballer Charlie Zink to follow in game two. Both games will last seven innings.
The biggest loser of Monday’s rainout was Clay Buchholz. The talented right-hander went through all the typical pregame preparations, which included warming up in the bullpen.
Buchholz remained in the bullpen while the rain drops forced the McCoy Stadium patrons to seek cover. He started to walk back to the Pawtucket dugout around 8:15, the time the contest was officially halted.
Though no official announcement was made, it’s presumed Buchholz will take his turn on Wednesday. The date is currently open thanks to Zink getting his start bumped up a day. 
An ominous sky appeared over the ballpark roughly 30 minutes before first pitch. The McCoy grounds crew positioned the tarp in shallow right field, anticipating that trouble could be afoot. No rain appeared by the time 7 o’clock rolled around, resulting in the grounds crew pushing the tarp back to its resting spot on the right field foul line.
It didn’t take long for the skies to open soon after, setting in motion close to 60 minutes of wait-and-see activity.
“The dang rain comes and screws everything up,” said PawSox manager Ron Johnson, whose club took batting practice without so much as a rain drop interfering. “We were ready to play, we got rain.”