As always, we bring you the Opening Day box:
Mario Saro, third in last year's AL MVP voting, got a leg up on the 2047 voting by going 4-4 with a pair of homers in the Rays' Opening Day 3-2 win over Houston. He went deep in the 3rd and 4th inning and the new new-look bullpen held firm although Abelaldo Gray was touched for a solo homer in his Rays debut. Also debuting was Kevin Crater, 0-3 with a walk.
Game 2: Welcome to Tampa Bay (and Publix Park), Kevin Crater. The veteran slugger made his presence known by going deep twice, most significantly with a grand slam to cap a 6-run first inning as the Rays routed Houston 9-1. Luis Barela was the other big bat, going 3-4 with 3 RBI to back a solid outing from Greg Bookhart (1-0), who went 6 4 1 1 4 4.
Game 3: The Rays made it three straight wins to open 2047 as they hammered Houston once again 11-6. It was a 3-3 game in the bottom of the 5th when the Rays scored four times on a Jose Castillo single and a 3-run shot from Doug Johns (#1). Those two came through again in the 6th when they scored 4 more times including a 2-run single from Castillo and an RBI double from Johns. Earlier Kevin Crater went deep again with his 3rd homer, a 2-run shot. Ben Moses couldn't get through the 5th (4.1 6 3 3 3 6) so Chris O'Brien picked up the win in relief.
Game 4: Tampa Bay swept the opening 4-game series with another comfortable win over the Astros, 9-3. It was a team effort as seven of the nine in the lineup (including several reserves) drove in a run with Luis Barela and Juan Davila knocking in a pair while Alex Duran was 3-5 with a double and an RBI in his first action of the season. Akio Suzuki made his MLB debut behind the plate and contributed a sac fly. Bob Riley (who I keep wanting to call "Baba O'Riley") did his pitch-to-contact thing and won his Rays debut going 6 9 2 1 0 3.
Team record: 4-0. Next up: Colorado visits for 3 games.