Baseball is back. The sun was shining bright on Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Monday; however, the Phillies' bats were silent. Boston Red Sox Opening Day starter Clay Buchholz (W: 1-0, 0.00 ERA) struck out the Phillies nine times while allowing only three hits in seven innings of work.
Phillies' manager Ryne Sandberg did not get the start he anticipated from ace Cole Hamels (L: 0-1, 7.20 ERA), who served up four solo home runs in his five innings on the hill.
The Red Sox scored all eight of their runs on home runs, with two coming from Dustin Pedroia (2), two from Hanley Ramirez (2), and one from rookie Mookie Betts (1) en route to the thier 8-0 Opening Day victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Pedroia started the scoring brigade for the Red Sox, knocking a solo home run to left off of Hamels on the second at-bat of the game in the first inning. Rookie Betts, whom the Phillies have vigorously tried to acquire for Hamels in the off-season, teed up Hamels in the third inning for a solo shot of his own, putting the Red Sox up two early.
As Hamels kept pitching, the Red Sox kept scoring runs. Pedroia hit his second home run of the day in the fifth inning, which was followed by a Ramirez solo shot two at-bats later. Hamels would finish the fifth before getting pulled in the losing effort. Throughout all five of his innings, the Phillies' ace struggled with his command, escalating his pitch count with three ball counts.
Scoring halted (despite not even starting for the Phillies) for both teams once Hamels left the ball game until the top of the ninth. Ramirez stepped to the plate with the bases load and nailed a grand slam off of lefty Jake Diekman to put the nail on the coffin for the Phillies on Opening Day.
In their 8-0 defeat, the Phillies managed to reach base only five times on three hits from Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, and Grady Sizemore and two drawn walks by Ruiz.
The inability to manufacture runs is something that will haunt the Phillies in the long season that awaits ahead of them. Putting the shut out on Opening Day aside, on Wednesday night, the Phillies will send Aaron Harang to the mound; he will be opposed by Boston's Rick Porcello.