Top prospect Anthony goes hitless in MLB debut
BOSTON — Roman Anthony was in Worcester, waiting for the 275-mile bus ride that would take him to Allentown, Pennsylvania, for his next Triple-A game, when WooSox manager Chad Tracy told the team its departure would be delayed because someone might need to head an hour east to Boston instead.
“I didn’t really think anything of it, to be honest,” Anthony told reporters in the Red Sox dugout at Fenway Park before going 0-for-4 in his major league debut in Boston’s 10-8, 11-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
“I was just kind of waiting around in the food room with a few of the guys, and then all of a sudden, he came out and just said, ‘Hey, you’re going to the big leagues,'” Anthony said. “From there on out it’s kind of been a little bit of a blur. But it was amazing. You dream of that every single day. So, to finally hear it was definitely awesome.”
Anthony’s MLB debut came at age 21 years, 27 days; he’s the youngest Red Sox player to debut since Rafael Devers, who was 20 years, 274 days old on July 25, 2017, according to ESPN Research.
In May, Anthony was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in baseball, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.
Anthony, who played right field and batted fifth, received the biggest cheer of all during pregame introductions and then a standing ovation from the crowd of 31,422 when he came to bat in the second inning, with a runner on first and nobody out. He popped up to left field and got another cheer as he returned to the dugout.
In the third, he may have been robbed of his first major league hit when he lined a ball up the middle that hit pitcher Shane Baz — at 111 mph. It deflected to the third baseman, who made the throw to first for the out. Anthony also struck out looking with runners on first and second in the third and walked in the seventh.
In the ninth, with the crowd again on its feet, he came up with runners on second and third and hit a hard bouncer up the middle for an RBI groundout. He was due to lead off the 11th, but manager Alex Cora pinch hit for him against left-hander Ian Seymour.
“It was nice to finally take the field, forget about all the outside noise and just be able to take the field with the guys,” he told reporters afterward. “Unfortunate we couldn’t get a win, but it was a good experience — good to just get the first one over with.”
Anthony fielded two balls easily in right field — a pair of singles in the fourth inning — but in the fifth he let a rolling ball go under his glove for a two-base error that led to an unearned run, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead.
“It just can’t happen,” he said. “It’s tough when you lose a game like that, you feel like that’s the reason we lost — little things like that. Just got to learn from it and be better.”
A 21-year-old second-round draft pick, Anthony went viral over the weekend when he hit a 497-foot grand slam in Worcester. He batted .288 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs in 58 games in Triple-A this season.
His accomplishments in the minors had Red Sox fans clamoring for his call-up. But while fellow prospects Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer got the nod, the Red Sox remained patient on Anthony until an injury to Wilyer Abreu left them needing another outfielder.
Cora said he noticed something was wrong with Abreu after Sunday’s game against the Yankees. When the team realized it would be more than a day or two, it decided to make the move and put Abreu on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain. The Red Sox made room for Anthony on the 40-man roster by designating first baseman/outfielder Ryan Noda for assignment.
“We’re trying to win ballgames,” Cora said. “The kid has done an amazing job getting ready for this moment. We’re excited. It’s a big day for the organization.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Arizona Diamondbacks placed left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a torn right ACL injured the previous night in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Gurriel was hurt in the sixth inning after he jumped awkwardly out of the way to avoid center fielder Blaze Alexander, who made a diving catch on a line drive by Rowdy Tellez for the third out of the inning.
Alexander was playing his first game in center field as a big leaguer.
Gurriel stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked to a cart before being driven off the field.
Additional tests confirmed the torn ACL.
Gurriel is batting .248 this season with 19 homers and 80 RBIs.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Adam Rittenberg
While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.
Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).
LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.
“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”
Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.
“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.
“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”
Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.
“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”
Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.
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