The Boston Red Sox Sunday, April 16, 2017 * The Boston Globe Mitch Moreland jumping at opportunity Julian Benbow For a split second, Mitch Moreland’s eyes darted from the pitching mound to the Tampa Bay Rays dugout, unsure what was happening. All he knew was that he’d let a first-pitch changeup from Rays starter Jake Odorizzi go by him, low at the shins, to start his first at-bat of the day. The next thing he knew, Odorizzi was hopping on the mound, hunched over slightly, his hamstring clearly causing some discomfort. When he glanced over, he saw trainers coming from the Rays dugout with manager Kevin Cash. While they tried to sort through Odorizzi’s issues, Moreland waited patiently. Odorizzi tried throwing some practice pitches, but the tightness in his left hamstring wouldn’t give. Cash had to break the emergency glass and call on reliever Erasmo Ramirez. Moreland knew Ramirez was in a tough position when he took the mound. “He might not have even been loose yet,” Moreland said. “It was kind of an awkward situation for them right there, but I tried to go up there and stay ready and put an aggressive swing on it.” At the same time, Moreland figured, in a 1-and-0 count against a pitcher who’d barely had time to warm up, he could take the chance to be opportunistic. “I just wanted to tell myself I was in a hitter’s count and I’d kind of been sitting a little bit, waiting on him to get loose,” Moreland said. “I was really telling myself to stay ready and stay aggressive in that situation and if I got a good pitch, try to make something happen.” The first pitch Moreland got from Ramirez was a middle-middle fastball, and he pounced on it, driving it deep into the seats in right field for a home run. It was his first in a Red Sox uniform, it snapped a streak 136 at-bats without a homer, and, in a game where runs were scarce, it helped push the Sox to a 2-1 win. He finished a triple shy of the cycle and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, crossing the plate on a slow-rolling ground ball to second base by Sandy Leon. “It’s a ground ball, I’m trying to get home as quick as I can, hoping they don’t turn two or something,” he said. “And obviously it was a good play for us. We got the run across. It was a nice AB by Sandy to put something in play there.” Manager John Farrell appreciated Moreland’s outing. “He’s the story of the day today given the three base hits,” Farrell said. “They run four different pitchers at us, nobody can really settle into a rhythm against a given guy. Credit to their guys. But, still, we’re starting to find our way. Thankfully Mitch is in the middle of it once again.” Moreland’s been swinging a hot bat to start the season, going 14 for his last 30 with nine doubles and a home run. His nine doubles lead the majors and are tied for the most by a Sox hitter through the first 11 games since 1913. “Just trying to go up there and keep it simple and get a good pitch and I’ve been fortunate enough to do that some here lately,” Moreland said. “I don’t want to think too much into it, that’s really about it.” The hope when the Sox signed Moreland to a one-year, $5.5 million deal in December was that his all-field approach would help at Fenway Park, where he could take advantage of the Green Monster in left field. In his career, 11 of his 20 hits at Fenway Park have gone for extra bases (six doubles, five homers). Of his doubles this season, three have been to left and two have gone to center. “Just tried to stay within the approach, whether it’s here or anywhere else,” he said. “I tried to keep it as simple as I can and get a good pitch. Just trying to go up there and trust what I’m doing.” Chris Sale pitches Red Sox over Rays Peter Abraham For Chris Sale, the game was over after the top of the seventh inning on Saturday. He had thrown 111 pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays and that was enough. Manager John Farrell, pitching coach Carl Willis, and Sale’s teammates shook his hand and patted his back after what was another terrific performance for his new team. A starting pitcher has the right to go back to the clubhouse at that point and many do. They ice their arms, grab a shower, and watch the rest of the game on television. But Sale stayed in the dugout, eager to watch the bottom of the inning. “That’s fun,” he said. Sale, along with the rest of the spectators at Fenway Park, saw the Red Sox push across a run to beat the Rays, 2-1. It was the first victory of the season for Sale, who allowed one run on three hits and struck out 12. Outside of the third inning, when he allowed a run and put four runners on base, Sale was almost perfect. He retired the final 10 batters before handing it over to the bullpen. Through three starts, Sale has allowed three runs on 11 hits over 21⅔ innings and struck out 29. The lefthander has been even better than what the Red Sox hoped for when they traded for him in December. “He’s worth the price of admission just to see him,” Farrell said. The winning run was a piecemeal affair, but certainly timely. Mitch Moreland led off the seventh with a single to center against Tommy Hunter. Xander Bogaerts followed with a single to right field. When Pablo Sandoval grounded to first baseman Logan Morrison, the Rays were only able to get an out at second base because Hunter was late covering first. Chris Young fell behind, 0 and 2, then drew a walk to load the bases. He watched two close pitches that just missed. “I thought C.Y. had an unbelievable at-bat,” said Sale, who by then was watching from the top step of the dugout. “Just as professional of an at-bat you can have. They were fighting. We were scrapping. They did everything they could to get this win.” With Sandy Leon up, the Rays went to lefty Xavier Cedeno, a ground-ball pitcher. Leon broke his bat on a dribbler to second base, but the ball was hit too slowly for a double play and Moreland scored. “I was trying to just put it in play,” Leon said. “I broke my bat but I got the winning RBI.” Farrell, at first, was concerned the Rays would turn a double play. “Let’s face it, Sandy’s not the most fleet of foot,” he said. Matt Barnes replaced Sale to start the eighth inning. With one out, he walked Steven Souza Jr. and pinch hitter Corey Dickerson. The sellout crowd, for reasons unclear, started doing the wave as the tension grew. Barnes fell behind Evan Longoria but jammed him with a fastball that was grounded to third base. Sandoval started a double play. Longoria had been 3 for 5 with two home runs against Barnes. “I didn’t have a good grip on the ball the whole inning,” Barnes said. “With Longoria, I threw him a heater that somehow decided it was just going to be a turbo sinker. I have no idea how I did it.” Craig Kimbrel struck out two the ninth inning for his fourth save. The Rays finished with three hits, all singles, and struck out 15 times. The Sox hitters didn’t fare much better. Moreland had three of the team’s six hits. Rays starter Jake Odorizzi allowed a leadoff single by Dustin Pedroia in the first inning and retired the side from there. But he left the game after throwing one pitch in the second inning because of tightness in his left hamstring. Erasmo Ramirez replaced Odorizzi and his first pitch was a fastball that Moreland drove into the seats in right field for his first home run. Sale allowed a run in the third as he threw 28 pitches. He uncharacteristically walked two. Farrell suggested he was affected by the delay in the previous inning. But Sale, no excuse maker, denied that. “That was me being stupid out there and not throwing strikes,” he said. Sale locked the Rays down from there. His 111th and final pitch was 97 miles per hour. Farrell and Willis looked at each other in disbelief when the number flashed on the scoreboard. “He emptied the tank,” Farrell said. The Sox have scored six runs in the three games Sale has started — three when he has been in the game. “He’s not had any margin of error,” Farrell said. Those trends usually change over the course of a long season and Sale is confident he’ll get plenty of run support over time. If not, he’ll do it the hard way. “If they all got to be like that, so be it. I look forward to the challenge,” Sale said. Jackie Bradley Jr. close to rejoining Red Sox Peter Abraham Jackie Bradley Jr. could rejoin the Red Sox as soon as Wednesday or Thursday. The All-Star center fielder took batting practice again on Saturday and on Monday morning will go through a base-running drill to further test the soundness of his strained right knee.