BOSTON — To replace Brandon Moss — who underwent an emergency appendectomy Saturday night — on the roster, the Red Sox yesterday elected to go with a 13th pitcher rather than another position player.

Craig Hansen is expected to join the Sox in Detroit in time to start the team’s 10-game road trip this evening.

This is Hansen’s second stint with the parent club in the first five weeks of the season. He was up briefly last month — taking the loss in an April 23 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — before being returned to Pawtucket.

In 11 games with the PawSox this season, Hansen is 1-0 with a 1.62 ERA. He’s struck out 17 in 16 2/3 innings while allowing five hits and five walks.

Moss, meanwhile, was released from the hospital and will go on the disabled list. But he could return to physical activity later this week.

“The prognosis is actually unbelievable,” said manager Terry Francona. “I think because of the way the procedures are done now, they can get going in a hurry.”

So far this season, Kevin Youkilis has hit up and down the Red Sox batting order — sometimes second, sometimes fifth, sometimes lower.

Yesterday, when David Ortiz (right knee) was scratched from the lineup some 20 minutes before game time, the Sox inserted Youkilis into the third spot in the batting order and he responded.

Youkilis had a first-inning sacrifice fly, a third-inning double, a seventh-inning solo homer and a run-scoring double in the eighth.

“It’s a luxury for us,” said manager Terry Francona. “He doesn’t care where he hits. You put him in there and he gives you production. And he always gives you professional at-bats. When David or Manny (Ramirez) don’t play, obviously our lineup looks different. But then a guy like Youkilis steps in and gives us plenty of offense.”

His three-hit game was the fifth of the season and the four-RBI afternoon matched a career high, accomplished three times previously.

Mike Lowell had a rough afternoon at the plate, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. That brought his batting average down to .204 for the season. Worse, the same guy who led the Red Sox in RBI last season has yet to knock in a single run through 54 at-bats this season … Ramirez had an RBI double yesterday and is hitting .317, but his pursuit of career homer No. 500 has stalled. Ramirez’s last homer came April 19 — that’s 47 at-bats and eight games ago. Ramirez remains at 496, four homers shy of becoming the 24th player to reach the 500-homer milestone.

Homers equal stolen bases

Here is a statistic Red Sox fans are not accustomed to seeing: after 32 games, the Sox have as many stolen bases as they have home runs. They have 26 of each.

Five of the stolen bases came yesterday, the most the team has had in a game since 2002. Jacoby Ellsbury had 2, giving him 11 for the season, without being thrown out. Coco Crisp, Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia each had one. The Sox have been thrown out only four times.

“It gives a different dynamic to your baseball team, as much as hitting home runs,” said Crisp, who now has five steals without being caught.

Ellsbury was not in the original starting lineup. He got to play becauseOrtiz was a late scratch. The Sox played Ellsbury in left with Crisp in center and used Ramirez as the designated hitter. In the bottom of the first, Tampa Bay had two outs and two on when Evan Longoria drilled a shot into the gap in left-center. Ellsbury, using his speed, raced over and made the catch on the run to end the inning. It would have been questionable whether Ramirez would have been able to make the play.

“We put an outfield out there that runs all over the place,” Francona said.

In the bottom of the first, Ellsbury hit a routine grounder up the middle. Second baseman Akinori Iwamura had to go to his right to field it. Ellsbury beat the throw to first for a hit.

He moved to second when Pedroia walked. Both then pulled a double steal, Ellbury’s 10th of the year and 19th of his career, all without being caught. Ellsbury then came home with the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Youkilis. Ellsbury added another steal in the eighth, this time on the back end of a double steal with Lugo.

pkenyon@projo.com