Red Sox OF Jonny Gomes Honors Boston Victims On Bats
BOSTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — The Red Sox did very little at the plate in the opener of a split doubleheader Sunday. Jonny Gomes certainly did something a lot more in his first two at-bats.
It was a winning move in a long losing day of games for the Red Sox.
Boston lost the opener, 4-2, and dropped the nightcap, 5-4, in 10 innings after Andrew Miller walked in the winning run.
In the opener, Gomes, with an idea created and developed by his agent, went to the plate his first two at-bats and alternated one of two specially made bats with the words "Boston Strong" and the full names of the four victims of the Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath. Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, and Martin Richard were killed in the explosions Monday and MIT police officer Sean Collier was shot to death on Thursday.
"It wasn't me. It was my agent," Gomes said, standing at his locker with the bats leaning against his stall after Boston's 4-2 loss in the first game against Kansas City. "He asked me if I was able to pull it off, would I be able to do it. He made it happen."
"Two of them," he added. "First at-bat, second at-bat. I plan on auctioning them off."
The Red Sox gave "several hundred tickets" to Watertown residents for the afternoon game after the manhunt for the surviving bombing suspect ended in the town on Friday, according to the New York Daily News.
On Saturday, Neil Diamond surprised the Fenway faithful when he showed up to sing a live version of "Sweet Caroline." It was the first game at the stadium since last week's attack.
The atmosphere at Fenway Park was more like a typical baseball game following Saturday's emotional pregame ceremony when the Red Sox returned to action.
Still, there were some signs that all was not the same.
The American flag in left-center field remained at half-staff, Red Sox players wore a "B STRONG" patch on their jerseys and a fan held a white sheet with the words "Veterans Luv Sox" on it while "God Bless America" was sung during the seventh-inning stretch.
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