The traditional opening day box:
The Rays put 4 on the board in the first highlighted by a 2-run Jon McGovern double and never looked back in an Opening Day romp in Baltimore. Luis Barela got his first extra-base hit since last August with a homer as part of a 3-5, 3-RBI day and Dave Rose was dominant to get 2052 off to a great start.
Game 2: The good feelings from Opening Day dissipated as the bullpen came a-cropper in a 9-5 loss. Nesty de la Rosa's second 2-run homer of the game (and his MLB career) put them up 5-4 in the top of the 7th but new free agent signee Alan Rutherford (0-1) crapped the bed by giving up 3 runs on a pair of homers in the bottom of the inning and the Rays suffered their first 2052 loss. It was also a rough debut for starter Tim Johnson as he coasted through the first 4 but then suddenly couldn't get anyone out in the 5th, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits without retiring a batter and finishing 4 10 4 4 1 4.
Game 3: The late-inning ugliness of last night carried over into the next day as the Orioles roughed up the Rays 11-4. Alec McInerney (0-1) was absolutely torched to the tune of 3.1 5 8 8 4 3. Ezequiel Avalos continued his hot start to the season by going 2-3 with a double and his first homer of the year and Jon Morales drove in a pair in a losing effort.
Game 4: The Rays took out two days of frustration in the finale, obliterating the Orioles 17-3 in what looked like a Bucs-Ravens score. Rather than recap the offense, I'll post their part of the box:
Zeke and Nesty continue to rake and Cameron Holly had a couple of hits in his Rays debut. Speaking of debuts, Rogelio Espinoza (1-0) was in his rocker today with all the run support, going 6 3 2 2 1 7 with the only damage a two-run homer just before he departed.
Team record: 2-2. Next up: We have our home opener as part of a 3-game series with Oakland.
MLB News: A couple of former Rays are off to flying starts with their new teams as Alex Duran has 4 homers in 4 games for the Angels and Juan Davila has gone yard thrice in Philly's first four.