PHOENIX (AP) — Mitch Moreland homered off Merrill Kelly on the first pitch of the seventh inning, and the World Series champion Boston Red Sox ended an awful opening trip with a 1-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
Boston went 3-8 against Seattle, Oakland and Arizona, its worst start since losing nine of 11 to begin a 2011 season that ended with a third-place finish in the AL East at 90-72. The last team to reach the postseason after losing at least eight its first 11 games was Tampa Bay, which finished 91-71 in 2011.