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Betts, Red Sox rout Nats in home opener

Apr 14, 2015 - 3:41 AM Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Mookie Betts flashed a wide range of skills early in Boston's home opener.

He made a home run-robbing catch, stole two bases and hit a three-run blast -- all in the first two innings -- to spark the Red Sox to a 9-4 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday.

David Ortiz had a solo home run and Sandy Leon went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Red Sox, who arrived at Fenway Park after going 4-2 on their season- opening road trip.

Rick Porcello (1-1) held Washington to four hits and struck out six in eight innings to pick up his first win with the Red Sox.

Ryan Zimmerman and Danny Espinosa both homered, with Espinosa driving in two runs, but the Nationals' offense continued to sputter. Washington has yet to score more than four runs in a game during its startling 2-5 start.

"It has to get better," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "It's about as bad as you can get."

Jordan Zimmermann (1-1) pitched only 2 1/3 innings against the Red Sox. The right-hander suffered his first loss since July 11 of last season after being tagged for eight runs -- seven earned -- on nine hits and a walk.

The stellar performance by Betts started three batters into the game when he ran back to the wall in right-center field, leaped and robbed Bryce Harper of a two-run homer.

Betts walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning. With one out and Ortiz batting, Betts stole second. As he slid in safely, Betts was aware that the Nationals didn't have anybody covering third due to the defensive shift on Ortiz. He got to his feet as Espinosa finished applying the tag and sprinted to third, where he narrowly beat the tag by Zimmermann.

Washington manager Matt Williams challenged the plays at both second and third, and after a long review, both calls stood as called.

Betts wound up scoring on a single by Ortiz, then drove a Zimmermann pitch over the Green Monster to put Boston up 4-0 in the second.

"In the first two, three innings, Mookie took the game over single-handedly it seemed like," said Boston manager John Farrell.

The Red Sox doubled their lead in the third. After Zimmermann hit Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval with pitches to begin the inning, center fielder Michael Taylor misplayed a Mike Napoli fly ball that landed on the warning track. Napoli was credited with a single that loaded the bases.

After Shane Victorino popped out, Xander Bogaerts, Leon and Betts each knocked in a run with singles. Leon hit a fly ball that dropped in between Taylor and Harper in right-center field and Betts reached on an infield hit, ending Zimmermann's outing.

Dustin Pedroia greeted Tanner Roark with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0.

Washington got on the board when Zimmerman led off the fifth with a home run to center. Clint Robinson followed with a triple and scored on a groundout by Espinosa.

Ortiz homered off Roark in the sixth for a 9-2 Boston lead.

Zimmerman reached second on a throwing error by the third baseman Sandoval to begin the seventh and came around to score after consecutive groundouts.

Porcello gave up a leadoff blast to Espinosa in the eighth.

Game Notes

The Nationals had won Zimmermann's last 12 regular-season starts ... The Red Sox activated closer Koji Uehara from the 15-day disabled list and optioned pitcher Tommy Layne to Triple-A Pawtucket prior to Monday's game. Uehara began the season on the DL because of a strained left hamstring ... Washington outfielder Jayson Werth was 0-for-3 against the Red Sox after being activated from the 15-day DL. Outfielder Matt den Dekker was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Werth, who missed the first six games of the season recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.