Pedroia leads Red Sox past Rays 5-3
BOSTON (AP) – AL MVP Dustin Pedroia and the Boston Red Sox are off to a fast start.
Pedroia homered on the second pitch he saw this season and Josh Beckett struck out 10 in seven innings of two-hit ball to lead the Red Sox to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday in a makeup of their rained-out opener.
Jason Varitek also homered for Boston in a rematch of last year’s AL championship series, which the Rays won in seven games to advance to the franchise’s first World Series.
Tampa Bay scored one run off Beckett and two in the eighth off Hideki Okajima before Justin Masterson pitched out of a jam and Jonathan Papelbon got three outs for the save.
James Shields gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out two in five innings as the AL champions opened their pennant defense completely overpowered by Beckett.
The Red Sox right-hander allowed a third-inning single to Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford’s sixth-inning double to go with three walks. He struck out Gabe Gross on a 93 mph fastball to end the seventh.
Brisk weather replaced the steady downpour that forced the Red Sox to postpone Monday’s game four hours before the scheduled first pitch. The sky was overcast but dry for the makeup, with the wind blowing out toward center.
The Red Sox changed the traditional baseline introductions by having their players come out of the stands, high-fiving fans on the way to the field. The Boston Pops took over the national anthem from singer Seal, who had been scheduled for Monday, but couldn’t stick around.
Beckett took care of the first three Rays before Pedroia came up with one out and homered over the Green Monster. Pedroia also walked to start the three-run third, scoring on J.D. Drew’s groundout before Jason Bay’s RBI single and Mike Lowell’s run-scoring double.