PHILADELPHIA – Jarrod Saltalamacchia wanted to make sure Bobby Valentine put him in the Boston Red Sox’s lineup Saturday night.
So the catcher texted Valentine on Friday night from the hospital, where he received 12 stitches after taking a ball off his ear, and told the manager that he was feeling good and predicted a homer Saturday.
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Saltalamacchia kept his word, going 3 for 4 and falling a triple shy of the cycle, as Boston hit four home runs in a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
David Ortiz homered, singled and drove in two runs to help Boston snap the Phillies’ six-game winning streak. Mike Aviles and Will Middlebrooks also homered for Boston, which won for the seventh time in nine games.
“Everything came back good, I’m cleared to play, plus I’m due to hit a bomb,” Valentine said, reading the text sent by Saltalamacchia.
“I wanted to make sure he knew I could play,” Saltalamacchia said. “Sometimes if you tell the manager you are going to hit one out, he’ll put you in there. I felt good. The ear didn’t bother or affect me.”
Jon Lester (3-3) improved to 3-0 in four career starts against the Phillies despite matching a season high for hits allowed with eight and giving up four runs in six innings.
Freddy Galvis homered, and John Mayberry Jr., Hector Luna and Shane Victorino each had three hits for the Phillies as the teams combined for 26 hits.
Alfredo Aceves got four outs for his ninth save in 11 chances.
Joe Blanton (4-4) pitched a season-low 41/3 innings while surrendering seven runs — six earned — on nine hits.
Aviles gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead with the club’s first leadoff homer of the season.
Boston extended the margin to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the second, with Saltalamacchia scoring on Daniel Nava’s grounder and Ryan Sweeney reaching on Lester’s double-play groundout.
Philadelphia got a run back in the third on Shane Victorino’s RBI double off the metal fence above the wall in left. But Middlebrooks and Saltalamacchia opened the fourth with consecutive homers to put Boston up 5-1.
Philadelphia scored three runs in the fourth.
But after Dustin Pedroia singled to lead off the fifth, Ortiz homered to straightaway center to give the Red Sox a 7-4 advantage.
Sweeney saved two runs in the seventh when he robbed Carlos Ruiz of extra bases with a highlight-reel diving catch just in front of the warning track in right-center with two outs and runners on first and second.
The Phillies trimmed the lead to 7-5 in the eighth on Jimmy Rollins’ RBI infield single.
NOTES: Red Sox OF Cody Ross did not play after fouling a ball off his left leg in Friday’s game. Valentine said X-rays were negative.
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