Red Sox Show There's No Place Like Home (2-5)

Josh Beckett threw eight
strong innings in the win

For essentially the first time in 2012, the Red Sox put together a truly dominant performance today, running over the Rays in their home opener. The most ironic part of this game is that the Rays scored first; in the second inning, Ben Zobrist came all the way around from first on a double into left by Jeff Keppinger. However, the Red Sox very quickly made a plea to overturn the run by the Rays by loading the bases to lead off the third. Adrian Gonzalez went opposite field with a single to left, Kevin Youkilis drove a sacrifice fly into right, and David Ortiz drove a run in on a little tapper to third-- before you knew it, the Red Sox were up on the Rays by a score of 3-1. The score stayed at that until the bottom of the fourth when Jacoby Ellsbury drove in Kelly Shoppach with a single. However, later in that inning, while running to second base-- Ellsbury hurt himself sliding and left the game with an injury to his right shoulder. Che-Hsuan Lin was scratched from Pawtucket's game so it appears Ellsbury may be headed to the DL with Lin coming up from the minors.

Kelly Shoppach went 3-4
with 3 runs and 2 RBIs

The score stayed at 4-1 as Josh Beckett continued to dominate the Rays' lineup. His day was finally done after eight innings and his final line was a very strong 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K mark-- his season statistics stand at 1-1/5.68/4 this season. The bottom of the eighth, however, was when this game turned from a close duel into a bloodbath at the hands of the Red Sox. They quickly loaded the bases with no outs before a two-run double for Kelly Shoppach and an two-run single for Ryan Sweeney-- both to left field-- would make it an 8-1 lead for Boston. Another two-run single later in the inning-- this one for Kevin Youkilis-- would make it 10-1 Red Sox. The scoring finally ended on an RBI double for David Ortiz and finally a sacrifice fly for Cody Ross to end the scoring at 12-1. The Rays picked up another run in the ninth off Mark Melancon but it was far too little in a 12-2 win for the Red Sox.


Bright Spots:
Josh Beckett- 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Jacoby Ellsbury- 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI
Ryan Sweeney- 1-3, 1 R, 2 RBIs
Dustin Pedroia- 1-4, 2 R, 1 BB
Adrian Gonzalez- 3-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Kevin Youkilis- 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBIs, 1 SF
David Ortiz- 2-4, 2 RBIs, 1 2B
Darnell McDonald- 1-3, 1 R, 2 BB
Kelly Shoppach- 3-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B

Dull Spots:
Mark Melancon- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 K

Player of the Game:
Josh Beckett- I was very impressed by the offense coming to life but Josh Beckett's eight strong innings were too impressive to pass up as Player of the Game.