PHILADELPHIA – Jacoby Ellsbury stole five bases and took one more home with him.
David Ortiz and Jonny Gomes homered, and Ellsbury set a club record for stolen bases in a game Thursday night as the Boston Red Sox routed the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2.
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Afterward the Phillies presented Ellsbury with a base to acknowledge his feat.
“It’s pretty neat,” Ellsbury said of the record. “As long as the Red Sox have been around It’s pretty special.”
“Single-handedly he changed the game,” Manager John Farrell said of Ellsbury. “When you have that kind of base-stealing threat, it’s a huge asset.”
Ellsbury added three hits, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia had two doubles and three RBI for the Red Sox, who enter this weekend’s series against their AL East rival New York Yankees having won 11 of 16 games.
Ellsbury was on base five times, adding a walk and hit by pitch to the base hits.
“Getting on base that many times, you want to take advantage and put pressure on the defense,” he said.
The Phillies didn’t do much to stop Ellsbury.
“He was getting a walking lead and we’ve got to stop that,” Manager Charlie Manuel said.
Manuel also spoke a familiar refrain afterward, lamenting Philadelphia’s lack of offense. The Phillies have scored three runs or fewer in 31 of their 54 games, dropping to 8-23 when doing so.
“It’s a battle for us to win games,” Manuel said. “We haven’t blown many people out. For us to get a winning streak, we have to score more runs.”
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.
“He kept the game under control,” Farrell said. “That was a solid five innings of work.”
Said Morales, “I got the lead and knew I had to make my pitches. I felt great today.”
Delmon Young homered and Domonic Brown remained hot with a pair of hits for Philadelphia, which was trying to get 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 the injured Chase Utley (oblique) at second base, also had two hits. But the Phillies managed a total of just six hits.
“We swing at bad balls,” Manuel said.
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.
Pettibone 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.
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