Mookie Betts' One-Man Show Electrifies Fenway Park In Red Sox Home Opener
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Red Sox take their pregame ceremonies rather seriously, and as you would expect on the day of their home opener, they did not disappoint on Monday.
The team honored the family of Martin Richard, and general manager Ben Cherington also brought a professional contract out onto the field for Pete Frates. Hometown sports heroes Tom Brady and Pedro Martinez, along with Bill Belichick and the Krafts, were on hand for the festivities, with the Super Bowl MVP throwing out the first pitch to David Ortiz -- one legend to another.
It was a pretty memorable event for all who witnessed. But once the ceremony concluded and the ballgame began, Mookie Betts stole the show.
The 22-year-old center fielder entered the season with impossibly high expectations, but on Monday in what turned out to be a 9-4 Boston victory, Betts was almost inconceivably spectacular.
And it started early. In the top of the first inning with a runner on first base, Bryce Harper sent the first pitch he saw deep to right-center field. Shane Victorino and Betts sprinted toward the Boston bullpen in pursuit, but it was Betts who had the beat on the ball. As he reached the warning track, Betts slowed himself before leaping as high as he could while raising his left hand above his head. Looking like a baseball version of the Air Jordan logo, Betts made the catch, robbing Harper of a home run and keeping the Nationals off the scoreboard.
It might have stood as the play of the game, but as it turned out, Betts was just warming up.
He led off the bottom of the first with a five-pitch walk. Two batters later, with David Ortiz at the plate and the defense shifted to the right side of the infield, Betts put his wheels -- and his smarts -- on display.
On a 1-0 pitch, Betts took off for second base and beat the throw from catcher Jose Lobaton. In one motion, Betts popped himself up after a foot-first slide and took off in a sprint for third base. Ian Desmond chased with the ball, while Yunel Escobar tried to keep up in a footrace with Betts, but with nobody covering third base, Desmond had to hang on to the ball. Pitcher Jordan Zimmerman ran over to third and eventually received a throw from Desmond, but he missed with the tag.
Betts slid in safely, picking up his second steal on one pitch.
In doing so, Betts became just the 11th person to ever steal two bases on one pitch. Dustin Pedroia was the last person to do it, and it's now happened just four times since the mid-'80s.
RECAP: Porcello Earns First Win As Red Sox Top Nationals 9-4
The Nationals weren't quite as impressed as most of the spectators at Fenway Park, as they challenged the ruling on the field. After a lengthy review process, the call stood: Betts was safe.
David Ortiz, who had been waiting to continue his at-bat during the long review, wasted no time in rewarding Betts, smoking the very next pitch over the head of left fielder Jayson Werth for an RBI single. Betts trotted home with the first run of the game.
To that point, Betts had turned in a pretty full day of work in just one inning: one walk, two stolen bases, one run scored and one home-run robbery. But he wasn't done.
When Betts next strode to the plate, he did so with the Sox still leading 1-0 but with two runners on base. Zimmerman tried to buzz a pitch past Betts on the inside part of the plate, and Betts displayed the hand speed that has had scouts salivating for some time.
Betts turned on the pitch and launched it high to left field, over the Green Monster, for a three-run homer.
"The pitch that he hit out, that was in and off the plate. You don't see too many guys turn on a ball like that," said starting pitcher Rick Porcello. "He's just letting it fly right now, and that's why he's so good."
For his next trick, Betts took a less spectacular route to getting the job done but nevertheless drove in yet another run with a bases-loaded infield single to the shortstop-third base hole.
"First two or three innings, Mookie took the game over single-handedly, it seemed like," manager John Farrell said of his leadoff hitter. "He took the game over. All ends of the game, from defensively to base running to at the plate, he's an exciting player. He's a talented, exciting player."
In just three innings, Betts was 2-for-2 with a walk, two steals, two runs, a home run and four RBIs. He went 0-for-2 the rest of the day, though he did make solid contact on a line-out to center, and he's now hit safely in five of his six games played in 2015.
Suddenly, those extreme expectations don't look so crazy. While it's still much, much too early to try to project Betts to maintain the success for a full season, the kid without a doubt stole the show in the 2015 Fenway debut of the Red Sox.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
