The Red Sox (2-5) scored eight runs in the eighth inning to put away the Tampa Bay Rays (4-3) in a 12-2 afternoon matinee. It was the eighth straight home opener that Boston has captured (a franchise record).
Josh Beckett (1-1) was excellent but that shouldn't be much of a surprise when you consider that he's 4-0 with an 0.84 ERA in his last six starts against Tampa Bay. He looked nothing like the chump that was throwing batting practice slop to the Tigers last Saturday. He went eight innings-he could have gone the whole way-allowing one run (earned) on five hits with one strikeout and one walk on an economical 94 pitches.
Boston put up 16 hits, 12 runs, 12 RBIs and six walks. The negative part which I think overshadowed everything else was that Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, run, RBI) left in the top of the fifth inning with what appeared to be a serious shoulder injury. He slid into second base and Rays shortstop Reid Brignac landed awkwardly on Ellsbury with his right shoulder taking the brunt of the fall. He appeared to be in plenty of pain and as he walked off the field, he was holding his arm to his chest. Gulp.
David Price (1-1) pitched like a guy with an injury or something else on his mind. He only lasted three innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
Fittingly against his former team, new Red Sox backup catcher Kelly Shoppach (Beckett's personal catcher?) led Boston with three runs, three hits, two RBIs and the first stolen base of his career that was completed like a belly flop. Adrian Gonzalez (3 hits, run, RBI), Kevin Youkilis (3 RBIs, 2 hits, run) and David Ortiz (2 hits, 2 RBIs) were the other Red Sox with multiple hits.
Tampa Bay actually scored the first and last runs of the game but ironically, that's all they had. Jeff Keppinger had an RBI double in the second and Ben Zobrist (2 hits, 2 runs) crushed a solo homer in garbage time-ninth inning-against Mark Melancon. You read that right, Melancon has already been delegated to mop-up duty.
Boston scored three times in the third inning, one in the fourth then they exploded for eight in the eighth.
Tomorrow afternoon, Clay Buchholz takes on Jeremy Hellickson at 4:05 p.m. Just like Beckett, the Red Sox need Buchholz to show that they can count on him this season. Otherwise, they have a huge hole-No. 3 starter-to fill. Hellickson is expected to start even though he got hit in the head during batting practice yesterday. Who knew pitchers had it so tough shagging flies in the outfield?
UPDATE 4/14: Ellsbury could miss 6-8 weeks and he was placed on the 15-day DL today with a partially dislocated right shoulder. Pawtucket outfield Che-Hsuan Lin was called up to take his place on the 25-man roster.
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