Red Sox at Rays
Denard Span grew up in Tampa Bay and his first game with his hometown team turned out to be among the more memorable moments of his career. Span overcame an early wobble of his own in the season opener to deliver the big hit in a 6-4 victory for the Tampa Bay Rays, who look to make it two in a row over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
Span hesitated on a fly ball that led to a two-run inside-the-park homer by Boston's Eduardo Nunez, but his bases-loaded triple was the big blow in a six-run eighth inning that put the Rays ahead to stay. "Just a true blessing to be able to play in front of my family and friends and to help this ball club win, can't ask for anything better," said Span, who was acquired from San Francisco for Evan Longoria in the offseason. "In all my 9 1/2, 10 years, that was probably the best postgame celebration of any team I've been on." It was a stunning loss by the Red Sox, who wasted six scoreless innings of one-hit ball by ace Chris Sale before relievers Joe Kelly and Carson Smith combined to allow six runs in the eighth to spoil the managerial debut of Alex Cora. "At the end of the day, that’s pretty pathetic what I did," Kelly said after walking three batters. "Can’t do that. I don’t think I’ve ever done it and it’s probably going to be the last time."
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, NESN (Boston), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox LH David Price (2017: 6-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Rays LH Blake Snell (2017: 5-7, 4.04)
Price made only 16 appearances (11 starts) during an injury-riddled season that included multiple trips to the disabled list due to an ailing left elbow. Price has plenty of familiarity with Tampa Bay, winning 82 games in his first six-plus seasons with the franchise and posting a 36-30 record and 2.88 ERA at Tropicana Field. The Rays are a collective 12-for-94 with one homer versus Price, who is 3-3 against his former team.
Although the record suggests a mediocre year, Snell bounced back from a disastrous start to 2017 by earning all five of his victories in his last nine starts while permitting two runs or fewer in six of them. He went 0-6 over his first 15 starts last season, including a pair of losses at Boston in which he surrendered 10 runs on 13 hits over 10 2/3 innings. Xander Bogaerts had three hits Thursday but is 0-for-9 lifetime against Snell.
WALK-OFFS
1. Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez struck out twice, walked once and scored in his Boston debut.
2. Rays RHP Alex Colome, who had 47 saves last season, earned his first with a scoreless ninth.
3. Nunez's inside-the-park homer on Opening Day was Boston's first since Carl Yastrzemski in 1968.