Boston’s road woes continue
Defending World Series champs lose 7 of first 9 on season-opening trip
Ketel Marte homered from both sides of the plate, including a grand slam, and Arizona kept the Boston Red Sox in a season-opening funk with a 15-8 romp Friday night in the Diamondbacks’ home opener.
Adam Jones homered and doubled for the Diamondbacks, who scored seven times in the sixth inning for a 14-1 lead. Red Sox infielder Eduardo Nunez came in to pitch the eighth and gave up a home run to Alex Avila.
Mookie Betts, who had three hits, and Mitch Moreland homered for Boston.
The defending World Series champions have lost seven of their first nine on an 11-game road trip, the longest to open a season in franchise history. They are off to their worst start since 2011, when they began 2-10 before finishing 92-70 and missing the playoffs by one game.
Rick Porcello (0-2) gave up 10 hits and seven runs in 42/3 innings. He flung a water cooler against the back wall of the Red Sox dugout after being removed in the fifth.
Porcello has given up 16 runs, 11 earned, in 71/3 innings in his first two starts. Boston has yielded double-digit runs three times, and its starting rotation has given up 43 earned runs in 401/3 innings.
Jones hit his fourth homer while extending his hitting streak to eight games and Nick Ahmed and Jarrod Dyson had three hits apiece for the Diamondbacks, who have scored at least five runs in seven of their eight games.
Marte set a career high with five RBIS. His performance marked the seventh time in team history a hitter has homered as a lefty and righty in the same game.
Zack Godley (1-1) gave up three hits and one run in 52/3 innings. He also singled twice, scoring one run and driving in another.
Marte hit a solo homer in the fourth. His grand slam off reliever Brian Johnson came in a big sixth inning that also included
a pinch-hit homer by Ildemaro Vargas, recalled earlier Friday when Jake Lamb was placed on the injured list.
Trainer’s room
Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia (left knee) was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk in nine innings of a rehab game for Class A Greenville on Thursday. He was to play again Friday, take Saturday off and be reevaluated Sunday, manager Alex Cora said.
Up next
Red Sox left-hander David Price (0-1) will oppose Diamondbacks right-hander Luke Weaver (0-0) in the second game of a three-game series. Weaver will make his first career appearance both against the Red Sox and at Chase Field.