Rick Porcello threw 7.1 innings of six-hit baseball and Xander Bogaerts drove in six runs to lead the Red Sox to a 10-3 win over the Rays on Saturday afternoon at Fenway.
Porcello allowed two in the first and one in the eighth, but was nails other than that, striking out seven on the way to his second win of the year. Meanwhile, Bogaerts delivered a two-run double in the first and a grand slam in the second to give the Red Sox all the offense they would need on the afternoon.
Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez all had two hits for Boston. For Martinez, that included his first homer in a Sox uniform, a seventh-inning solo blast to left-center off Tampa reliever Chaz Roe. Rafael Devers added a homer of his own, another solo shot in the seventh that was his first of the season.
The 10 runs were the most in one game this season for the Red Sox, and the first time Boston hit the double-digit mark in a game since Sept. 27. In addition, the Red Sox have now won seven of eight to start the season, the first time a Boston team has turned that trick since the 1920 team.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays
WHERE: Fenway Park
WHEN: 1:05 p.m.
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Rick Porcello (1-0, 1.69) vs. RHP Jake Faria (0-0, 2.25)
WHAT’S UP: The Sox come into Saturday’s matinee having won six straight, the ninth time in the history of the franchise the team has win six of its first seven games to start the season, most recently in 2006. This year’s team is attempting to be the first team since the 1920 team to start 7-1. The Rays are 1-6 to start the season, having lost six in a row since their dramatic win over Boston in the opener for both teams last week.
UPDATES
3:55 p.m: That's it. Red Sox win, 10-3.
3:42 p.m.: Tampa Bay picked up a field goal to make it 10-3. Marcus Walden in the game for the Red Sox after Porcello goes 7.1 innings. Walden quickly gets the 1-6-3 double play to erase the threat.
3:27 p.m.: Red Sox have now hit the 10-run mark in a game for the first time since last Sept. 27.
3:24 p.m.: And Devers gets his first homer of the season, that one on a 2-2 pitch. Ball is really carrying out to right -- looked like it just kept floating.
3:19 p.m.: Martinez gets his first homer of the year to make it 9-2.
The first, but not the last from @JDMartinez14. ? pic.twitter.com/pKNzq72Ki6
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 7, 2018
In his first 23 at-bats of the season against Tampa Bay, Bogaerts has seven doubles, two homers and nine RBIs while hitting .478.
— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) April 7, 2018
Xander Bogaerts hit just six barrels in 2017.
That was then, this is now. This Monster slam is Bogaerts' @MLB-leading sixth barrel ALREADY in 2018. pic.twitter.com/4WHD1LDe4N
— #Statcast (@statcast) April 7, 2018