Time to start another season of Rays baseball:
Opening Day couldn't have been scripted any better as new star acquisition Kyle Tucker hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 Rays lead as they went on to beat Boston 5-2. Tanner Houck had shackled the offense but they took advantage of Lance Lynn with Ozzie Albies and Wander Franco singling and then Tucker depositing a Lynn offering into the RF seats. Shane McClanahan had a nice start and Josh Taylor saved with a lefty up after Pete Fairbanks had put two men on with two out.
Game 2: 1-5 L. LP-Swanda (0-1, 3.2 8 5 5 0 5). Rough outing for Swanda and the offense only managed 6 hits.
Game 3: 6-3 W. WP-Patino (1-0, 5 5 3 3 1 4). S-Fairbanks (1). HR-Vaughn (1). Rays scored 4 in the first and never looked back. Vaughn drove in a pair and Tucker was 2-3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.
Game 4: 1-5 L. LP-Rasmussen (0-1, 5 6 3 2 0 5). Ras was decent but the offense stunk again.
Team record: 2-2. Next up: 3 at home vs Texas including Taj Bradley's MLB debut starting the opener.