Red Sox Win 1st of the Season 11-2 as Bats Come Alive [VIDEO]
The Boston Red Sox won their 1st game of the season Monday night, April 5th, 11-2 over the Tampa Bay Rays to put an end to their opening 3 game losing streak with an exclamation point! 8 of the 9 Red Sox batters had at least 1 hit and 6 recorded multiple hits!
The Red Sox pounded out 16 hits, led by Xander Bogaerts who was 4-5 with 2 doubles, driving in a run. The 4 hits matched a career high, for the 17th time in Xander's career.
JD Martinez was 2-3, with a home run, scored twice, walked twice and drove in 3 runs. In the 4 games this season JD is 8-15 (.533) with 3 doubles, 2 homers, and 6 runs batted in.
Alex Verdugo was 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs batted in. Franchy Cordero was 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs batted in. Hunter Renfroe was 2-3 with a a run batted in and Christian Vazquez was 2-4 scoring twice.
Marwin Gonzalez was 1-3 scoring twice and according to Elias became the 1st Major Leaguer since 1900 to start a team's first 4 games of the season at 4 different fielding positions (left field, 2nd base, 3rd base and 1st base)
Meanwhile on the mound, Nick Pivetta threw 5 shutout innings to pick up the win. He struck out 4 and walked 4 while allowing 2 hits.
Adam Ottavino worked out of a bases loaded 8th inning, with a key called strike 3 on Mike Brosseau.
Phillips Valdez continued to impress in the regular season after a horrible Spring Training, throwing a hitless 9th inning.
For the Rays Michael Wacha went 5 innings allowing 8 hits and 5 runs, 4 earned while walking 2 and striking out 6. He recorded 4 of the first 6 outs via strike out including striking out the side in the 1st inning.
Brandon Lowe was 2-3
Alex Cora on the win
The Red Sox (1-3) and Rays (2-2) will meet in the middle game of the 3 game series Tuesday night. Martin Perez is scheduled to start for Boston. The pregame begins at 6:10 and 1st pitch at 7:10 on AM 1370 WDEA.