Red Sox Beat Phillies 9-2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — David Ortiz and Jonny Gomes homered and Jacoby Ellsbury set a club record with five stolen bases as the Boston Red Sox routed the Philadelphia Phillies 9-2 on Thursday night.
Ellsbury added three hits and Jarrod Saltalamacchia had two doubles and three RBIs for the Red Sox, who enter this weekend's series against their AL East rival New York Yankees having won 11 of 16 games.
Franklin Morales (1-0) allowed four hits in five innings with two strikeouts and two walks in his first appearance this season. Four relievers closed it out with four scoreless innings.
Delmon Young homered and Domonic Brown remained hot with a pair of hits for Philadelphia, which was trying to get back to .500 for the first time since April 14.
Phillies rookie Jonathan Pettibone (3-1) surrendered four runs in a 28-pitch first inning.
Cesar Hernandez, filling in for injured Chase Utley (oblique) at second base, also had two hits, including his first major-league hit with a first-inning single.
Morales (back) came off the disabled list and got the nod when Jon Lester's start was bumped back a day to Friday to give ace Clay Buchholz, who had been scheduled to start Friday's series opener at the Yankees, more time to recover from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss Monday's start.
Buchholz could pitch in Sunday's series finale against the Yankees, though the Red Sox haven't announced a starter for that game.
Pettibone (3-1) hadn't given up more than three earned runs in his first seven career starts, but left after giving up six hits, striking out five and walking four in five innings.
Saltalamacchia's two-run double to was the big blow in the first for Boston, which got RBIs from Dustin Pedroia and Mike Carp in the opening frame. After the Phillies got a pair of runs back on Young's opposite-field, two-run homer to right in the bottom of the first, Morales kept the Phillies scoreless for the next four.
Boston tacked on a run in the sixth when Gomes, pinch-hitting for Morales, hit a solo homer to left-center off Phillies left-handed reliever Jeremy Horst to put Boston ahead 5-2. Horst hit Boston's next batter, Ellsbury, prompting home-plate umpire Bill Miller to warn both teams.
And Boston took a 6-2 lead in the seventh when Ortiz led off the inning with a majestic homer to right field. Manager John Farrell lifted Ortiz, who was making his first start at first base this season, in the middle of the seventh.
Despite Miller's warning, Philadelphia reliever Michael Stutes and Boston reliever Mortensen each hit a batter after the caution but weren't ejected.
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