Beckett, Sox blow away Tampa Bay, 12-2

BOSTON -- If you're a glass-is-half-empty type, the shoulder injury to Jacoby Ellsbury is what you're going to take away from Opening Day at Fenway Park.
The glass-is-half-full types, however, will remember Josh Beckett.
Beckett bounced all the way back from his dismal start last Saturday in Detroit with a dominant eight-inning performance against the Rays, limiting Tampa Bay to five hits and one run as he pitched Boston to a 12-2 victory Friday afternoon. He retired 21 of the last 24 batters he faced and received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 37,032 -- some of whom had booed him during pregame introductions -- when he left the field in the eighth.
It wasn't all sunshine at Fenway, though, as Ellsbury suffered what appeared to be a potentially serious shoulder injury in a second-base collision and had to leave the game in the bottom of the fourth. There was no immediate word on his condition, or how look he'll be sidelined.
The Sox fell behind 1-0 in the second when Ben Zobrist singled and came all the way around to score on a double into the left-field corner by Jeff Keppinger. But Beckett was dominant after that, shutting down the Rays on two hits the rest of the way.
He was given all the runs he would need in the third, when the Sox bled Rays ace David Price out of the game with a protracted rally that drove his pitch count into the 80s.
It began when Kelly Shoppach was hit by a pitch, and Ellsbury followed with a double to left that put runners on second and third. A walk to Dustin Pedroia loaded the bases.
Adrian Gonzalez then singled to left, scoring Shoppach and tying the game at 1-1. A sacrifice fly to right by Kevin Youkilis put the Sox ahead, 2-1 (and moved Ellsbury to third in the process), and David Ortiz beat Tampa Bay's overshift with a squib single to third base that scored Ellsbury and made it 3-1.
A walk to Darnell McDonald loaded the bases, but the Rays turned the hardest-hit ball of the inning -- a sharp grounder up the middle by Cody Ross -- into an inning-ending double play.
That was all for Price, however, who had thrown 83 pitches through three, and the Sox touched his replacement, Burke Badenhop, for another run of the game in the fourth. With one out Shoppach doubled, and he rode home on a single to center by Ellsbury.
The Sox blew it open with eight runs in the eighth, as a two-run double by Shoppach (3-for-4, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI, 2 doubles, first career stolen base), a two-run single by Ryan Sweeney, another two-run single by Youkilis, an RBI double by Ortiz and a sacrifice fly by Ross made it 12-1.
Ben Zobrist homered for the Rays in the ninth off Mark Melacon.
Elsbury suffered his shoulder injury after his RBI single, when shortstop Reid Brignac fell on his right shoulder as he slid into second in an attempt to break up a double play. He walked off the field with his right arm immobilized, and the Red Sox said later he was being evaluated.