Jacoby Ellsbury Receives First All-Star Bid, Joining Fellow Red Sox Josh Beckett, David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez

Jacoby Ellsbury and Josh Beckett were the primary symbols of the 2010 Red Sox, a pair of standouts whose seasons were ruined by injury. Now, both of them are All-Stars.

Although Ellsbury fell short of Texas’ Josh Hamilton in the voting for the final starting outfield spot on the American League roster, he was chosen as a reserve by his fellow players. It is Ellbury’s first All-Star bid. He enters play Sunday batting .300 and tied for the lead in the AL with 25 stolen bases.

Beckett was chosen by the players as one of 10 starters and will make his third trip to the Midsummer Classic, which will take place July 12 at Chase Field in Arizona.

The Red Sox also have two starters in the game. Adrian Gonzalez won the starting spot at first base, his fourth straight nod and first in the AL. David Ortiz, the captain of the AL side in the home run derby on July 11, ran away with the designated hitter vote and will appear in the All-Star game for the seventh time, the fifth as a starter.

Gonzalez, in his first year with Boston, leads the AL in hitting (.353) and all of baseball in RBIs (74). Ortiz is batting .302 with 17 home runs and 49 RBIs.

Boston had six All-Stars last year. Ortiz is the only repeat entry for the club. As captain of the home run derby, he has chosen Gonzalez, Toronto’s Jose Bautista and New York’s Mark Teixeira. The Yankees first baseman did not make the All-Star team, but could still take part in the derby.

Only one AL team, the Yankees, have more than Boston’s two starters this time around. The Yankees have starters at four positions — second baseman Robinson Cano, shortstop Derek Jeter, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and center fielder Curtis Granderson. Catcher Russell Martin and closer Mariano Rivera also were selected, giving New York an AL-high six All-Stars.

Bautista joins Hamilton and catcher Alex Avila as the lone starters not from Boston or New York. The reigning home run champ was the leading vote-getter among all players, a worthy recognition for a guy who enters Sunday batting .328 with an MLB-leading 26 home runs.

Ortiz, Bautista, Granderson and Cano each surpassed Ken Griffey Jr.’s vote record established in 1994, a testament to the record number of votes overall.