PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — If you had any doubts about the wisdom of that four-year, $82.5 million contract extension the Red Sox handed out last April to Rick Porcello, he didn’t do anything to dispel them yesterday.
Porcello was shelled by the Tampa Bay Rays at Charlotte Sports Park as if it was an artillery testing ground, allowing eight earned runs and 10 hits in a three-inning stint that often sounded like the only pitch he had working for him was the loud ball. Six of those runs and seven of those hits came after two were out in the second inning, which isn’t easy for anyone to pull off.