With the start of the big league season, Masanao Yoshida, who will play for the Red Sox this season, played the full game in the fourth and left field, hitting two hits and recording his first RBI.
Yoshida, who moved from professional baseball club Orix to the Major League Baseball Red Sox, played the season opener against the Orioles at Fenway Park on the 30th.
Yoshida, who helped the team win the Japan WBC = World Baseball Classic with a new tournament record 13 RBIs, was introduced as the "WBC Champion" at the pre-game ceremony and started at left field in the fourth.
In his first at-bat in the first inning, he was driven in, but he fell to second base, and in his second at-bat in the fourth inning, he was a dead ball with one out and third base.
Trailing by six runs, in his third at-bat of the sixth inning, he delivered his second pitch of a high fastball to center field with no outs and a runner on second base, marking his first hit and first RBI in the big leagues.
In the fourth at-bat of the eighth inning, a sharp liner that pulled the first pitch with one out and first base flicked off the first mitt and hit the right line, and Yoshida also homered on the subsequent two-base hit.
In the fifth at-bat, chasing two runs in the ninth inning, it looked like the game would end with a double play when he was hit by a shortstop at first base with one out, but Short sent a bad ball to first and the second base runner stepped home and came close to a one-run lead.
However, the next batter struck out and the Red Sox lost 4-1.
Yoshida went 4-for-2 with one RBI and one dead ball in his debut.