ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Light on the long ball in 2017, the Red Sox on Opening Day 2018 needed until only the second inning to hit their first of the season.
If an inside-the-park home run qualifies as a long ball.
Eduardo Nunez’s soft liner into left-center off Rays righty Chris Archer entered no-man’s land in between Rays left fielder Denard Span and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier. Nunez was off to the races as the ball slowly rolled toward the wall.
New Sox third-base coach Carlos Febles waved in Nunez, who probably would have been thrown out at the plate with a good throw. But the ball bounced off the mound at Tropicana Field and Nunez scored easily, with a huge smile as he slid across the plate headfirst.
The "dinger" provided the first Red Sox homer of the season and gave them a 3-0 lead behind ace Chris Sale. Xander Bogaerts scored from third base.
J.D. Martinez walked to start the inning, reaching base in his first plate appearance with the Sox. He scored the team’s first run of 2018 two batters later.
Bogaerts doubled on a liner off the wall in left, putting Martinez on third base with none out. Martinez came home when Rafael Devers grounded out to the left side for the first out of the inning. Nunez was the next batter.
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Nunez has two career inside-the-park homers, both against the Rays. (He was not on the Red Sox when he hit the first.) The last time a Sox player hit an inside-the-park home run in the regular season was Aug. 28, 2015, when Blake Swihart did so on the road against the Mets in the 10th inning.
Rafael Devers, however, hit one in the previous game the Sox played that counted prior to Thursday, in the final inning of Game 4 of the 2017 ALDS against the Astros.
