Rays at Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox have been lights-out on the mound en route to their 7-1 start but the bats are starting to turn on the power as they go for a three-game sweep of the struggling Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. Xander Bogaerts belted Boston's first grand slam since 2016 as part of a career-high six-RBI day in Saturday's 10-3 victory that left the Red Sox pitching staff with a 2.24 ERA -- albeit exclusively versus two of the worst teams in Tampa Bay and Miami.
Boston, which will try for the first 8-1 start in club history, has already set a team record by going eight games without an error to begin a season. J.D. Martinez is settling in nicely in his new home as he is 3-for-7 in two games at Fenway Park after delivering his first home run in a Boston uniform and just missing another while settling for a sacrifice fly. The Rays have scored 14 runs during their seven-game losing streak since defeating the Red Sox 6-4 on Opening Day in miraculous fashion with six runs in the eighth inning. Boston's Eduardo Rodriguez comes off the disabled list to make his 2018 debut and opposes rookie reliever Andrew Kittredge as Tampa Bay endures another bullpen day.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network; FS Sun (Tampa Bay), NESN (Boston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Andrew Kittredge (0-2, 3.18 ERA) vs. Red Sox LH Eduardo Rodriguez (2017: 6-7, 4.19)
With only three healthy designated starters, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash is forced to use his bullpen exclusively for the second time in the series. Kittredge took the loss Thursday when he allowed a run, two hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings before yielding to Ryan Yarbrough, who permitted Hanley Ramirez's walk-off hit in the 12th inning. Kittredge, a 28-year-old Washington native, allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits in 3 1/3 innings of the Rays' 3-2 loss to Boston on March 31.
Rodriguez pitched six innings in a minor-league game at Boston's spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla., on Tuesday and is ready to go after undergoing right knee surgery during the offseason. "It's strictly his knee and his extension," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters about the Venezuelan, who turned 25 on Saturday, prior to Tuesday's outing. "It's very important for him to be 100 percent. I think this organization has been through the path before and it seemed like it didn't work out so we have to make sure he's completely healthy." Rodriguez, who did not appear in any spring training games this season, is 6-7 with a 4.19 ERA in 66 career games (65 starts) - all with Boston - and is 0-2, 6.57 in five starts versus Tampa Bay.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Red Sox are hitting .245 as a team with SS Bogaerts (.371) and RF Mookie Betts (.345) leading the way among regulars and LF Andrew Benintendi (.154) and CF Jackie Bradley Jr. (.115) struggling.
2. Tampa Bay CF Kevin Kiermaier (2-for-28, 12 strikeouts this season) missed Saturday's game because of illness.
3. Sunday would have been Boston ace Chris Sale's day to pitch, but Cora decided to go with Rodriguez and save Sale for Tuesday, when the Red Sox open a three-game series against the rival New York Yankees.