Papelbon Back At Fenway For 1st Time With Phillies
BOSTON (AP) — With the way Philadelphia starter Tyler Cloyd pitched, Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon had no chance to get into the game during his return visit to Fenway Park.
Cloyd (1-1) gave up six runs and nine hits in 2 1-3 innings on Monday night, helping the Red Sox jump to a seven-run lead as Boston beat Philadelphia 9-3 and sent the Phillies to their 12th loss this season by five runs or more.
"The ball was up. I couldn't get it down in the zone," Cloyd said. "The ball was up, it had good movement, but it's hard when it's up a lot."
Philadelphia Manager Charlie Manuel wasn't bothered by the type of loss, just concerned that his team is ready to bounce back Tuesday.
"When you really think about it, a loss is a loss," he said. "We'll come back out tomorrow and it's still 0-0."
Phillies center fielder Ben Revere made one of the few highlights in the loss, making an over the shoulder grab of David Ortiz's deep fly in the fourth before banging into the unpadded part of the wall.
"He's all right. He hurt his elbow," Manuel said. "I don't know if he's getting an X-ray. He probably will."
Papelbon returned to Fenway on Monday but his alter-ego, "Cinco Ocho," didn't make an appearance.
"He's probably going to love it," the former Red Sox reliever said of the nickname he gave himself because of his uniform No. 58. "He's probably going to be pretty hyped."
The colorful closer, who saved the last three games of Boston's 2007 World Series sweep of the Colorado Rockies, said his only goal in signing with Philadelphia after the 2011 season was to win.
"Hopefully I'll be received well, but I'll understand if I'm not," he told reporters in the visitor's dugout before the game. "Hopefully, the fans will understand that I just wanted to win, and that's all I wanted to do when I was here."
Papelbon had 219 saves in 248 opportunities with a 2.33 ERA for Boston from 2005-11. He left as a free agent as soon as he was eligible, signing a four year deal for $50,000,058.
That meant he missed last year's last-place finish, when the Red Sox went 69-93 under Bobby Valentine in his only year as the Boston manager.
"I've moved on," Papelbon said. "Boston was a great city for me. I had a great time here, but I've moved on. I really didn't play much attention to the Red Sox."
The Red Sox welcomed Papelbon back with a scoreboard tribute that showed many of his highlights in Boston, including his celebration after getting the last out in the '07 Series. Other shots showed Papelbon spraying champagne and dancing in a kilt at the victory parade.
The crowd gave him a big cheer, and Papelbon saluted from the dugout.
"It's an absolute thrill to be here at this park again and hopefully get on the mound and pitch," he said. "I think this is one of my all-time favorite mounds to pitch off."
Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli homered in the first inning, and Alfredo Aceves (2-1) held the Phillies to one run over six innings in his best outing of the year.
"He took tonight as an opportunity to make an impression," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "He made a solid one. It's a night-and-day difference."
Jacoby Ellsbury had hits in each of the first three innings to help the Red Sox earn their fourth consecutive victory and their 10th in the past 13 games.
Ellsbury also chased down Freddy Galvis' line drive to deep center field with the bases loaded in the sixth to end the inning and protect an 8-1 lead.
"In this ballpark, when you're down four, maybe five runs, there's still a chance. But when it's 8-1, it's in another zone," Manuel said. "The ball Freddy hit when it was 8-1 might have gotten us close, but the guy made a pretty nice play on it."
Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, John Mayberry and Revere each had two hits for the Phillies. Erik Kratz's solo homer in the third and Domonic Brown's two-run shot in the eighth both curled around the Pesky Pole.
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