The day began poorly for the Red Sox -- and got worse from there.
Trailing 3-0 early, the Red Sox were blown out by the Baltimore Orioles, 11-3, stretching their season-opening losing streak to three.
Garrett Richards had an abysmal debut, charged with seven runs before he could record an out in the third inning. Josh Taylor wasn't any better, allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning.
J.D. Martinez had two hits including the first Red Sox homer of the season. Garrett Whitlock made his MLB debut and was a bright spot, blanking the O's over 3.1 innings while fanning five.
WHO: Red Sox (0-2) vs. Baltimore Orioles (2-0)
WHEN: 1:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: Baltimore 2-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Garrett Richards vs. LHP Bruce Zimmermann
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM
LINEUPS:
ORIOLES
Mullins CF
Mancini 1B
Santander RF
Mountcastle DH
Ruiz 2B
Franco 3B
Galvis
Hays LF
Sisco C
RED SOX
Hernandez CF
Verdugo LF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Gonzalez 3B
Renfroe RF
Vazquez C
Dalbec 1B
Arroyo 2B
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T7: Hirokazu Sawamura has a scoreless seventh, but continues to have trouble with command with two walks.
B6: Martinez continues to be the lone bright spot in the lineup. Turns on a breaking ball and drives a run-scoring double into the LF corner.
T6: Hunter Renfroe continues to look comfortable patrolling RF in Fenway, running near the wall (and almost out of room) to make a catch on Pat Valaika.
B4: Solo homer drilled to CF by J.D. Martinez. First homer of the season for the Red Sox as Martinez continues to show better at-bats.
B3: Kiké Hernández delivers the first Red Sox run of the afternoon with a sac fly to left. Try to contain your enthusiasm.
T3: Garrett Whitlock, the third pitcher of the inning, is making his major league debut. Orioles have (so far) sent 11 hitters to the plate this inning, scoring seven times.
T3: Taylor walks the first hitter on four pitches and then yielded a two-run double. Ugly and embarrassing as Sox trail 6-0.
T3: Brutal debut for Richards, who fills the bases with no outs in the third. He faced 15 hitters and allowed nine to reach. Josh Taylor on.
T2: Richards isn't fooling anybody so far. Orioles have five hits in their first nine plate appearances.
T1: Maikel Franco swings away 3-0 and lashes a double down the left field line, delivering two more runs. Rough first inning for Garrett Richards, who is approaching 30 pitches and already trails by three.
T1: Anthony Santander pounds the ball into the ground inches in front of the plate, but with the Sox shifted around, the ball squirts through the infield, scoring Cedric Mullins from third base.
PRE-GAME STATS: The last time the Red Sox began the year 0-3 was 2012....It's happened a total of 19 times in their history...The last they dropped their first three at home to start a season was 1948....Through the first two games, Red Sox pitchers have struck out 18 and issued just three walks. They've also allowed just three extra-base hits -- all doubles...Xander Bogaerts, who moved into fourth place Saturday for most career games at shortstop for the franchise, has hit 118 HR, which is sixth-most among Red Sox shortstops. Next up for Bogaerts at which to take aim: Joe Cronin (119), John Valentin (121), and Vern Stephens (122).....It took the Red Sox until their 13th inning of the season to score their first run. That translates into their 5th-longest scoreless streak to begin a season. The 1962 season saw the Sox need 20 innings to score....Not along ago, the Orioles were pushovers for the Red Sox. But after winning 30-of-38 matchups with their East rivals, the Sox are just 6-9 in their last 15 head-to-head meetings...For the first time in franchise history, two Red Sox players have played three different positions in the first three games. Alex Verdugo has played center, right and left while Marwin Gonzalez has played left, second and third.
NOTES:
- After a shaky first two games at third base, Rafael Devers gets the afternoon off, with Marwin Gonzalez getting the start at third base. Devers was charged with one error Saturday, failed to barehand a ball cleanly on Friday and skipped several throws in the dirt. "Sometimes, obviously the decisions aren't sound,'' said Cora. "But the effort is there. He puts in the work. Whoever says that he needs to put in work on defense, they should join us in the mornings and afternoon. That's what you ask of players. We'll keep working with him. I do believe he can play the position. He has a good arm, he's got good feet. Sometimes the decisions aren't sound. (But) we do believe he can play third base at this level.'' Cora wants to make sure that Devers doesn't dwell on mistakes, which can lead to a loss of confidence and more errors. "Thinking about what you did is not productive for you,'' said. "We've talked about that. 'Don't be so hard on yourself.' I want him to understand that people are going to make errors. That's part of the game. It's very hard for him to make an error and turn the page right away. So we're going to keep preaching that to him and I know he'll get it.''
- Bobby Dalbec was drafted as a third baseman and will see occasional playing time there, but Cora went with Gonzalez as his choice. "Whenever we have a chance and we feel that's the day (Dalbec) should play it, we'll use him,'' said Cora.
- Cora said the Sox would soon make a determination on when Eduardo Rodriguez will be activated. "He's doing well,'' said Cora. "We'll know after the game what we're going to go with him. Everything is trending that he'll be with us, like I said, sooner rather than later. We'll probably after know after he goes through the day and we'll have a decision probably tonight or tomorrow.''
- Cora had nothing but praise for Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini, who missed all of last season battling colon cancer. "Amazing,'' he said. "He should be the Comeback Player of the Year. He can hit .330 or .180, regardless, he's the Comeback Player of the Year already. I know there's other guys who are going to come back from injuries. But to come back from this is amazing. He looks like he's the same player he was two years ago. I'm very happy that he's back. I think everybody in this clubhouse appreciates that he's playing again.''
- Infielder Danny Santana, who missed most of spring training with a bad infection on his foot, is slowly working his way back. Pitcher Bryan Mata, who was sidelined with some soreness in his biceps, started his throwing program.
- Alex Verdugo is in left, meaning he's played each of the three outfield spots in three games. "He can do that,'' said Cora. "There's no problem with that. That's part of what we bring on a daily basis. Today, we felt that's the best alignment for us.''
- Nick Pivetta will make his first start at Fenway Monday night. His two starts last September came on the road. Pivetta said he's not feeling any pressure with the offense struggling through the first two games. "No pressure at all,'' he said. "It's my job to go out there and throw up zeroes; it's their job to go out and put up runs on the board. As long as I'm doing my job, keeping the ballgame as close as possible, let them just be relaxed and go out and have confidence. That's all I care about it. You never want to play with pressure; you just want to play with fun, going out there and competing. So as long as I'm doing my job, keeping us in the baseball game, everything's going to go great.''