Red Sox's Joely Rodriguez: Cedes homer in opener

Rodriguez allowed a run on one hit and struck out two over one inning to pick up his first hold of the season in Thursday's 6-4 win over the Mariners on Opening Day.

Rodriguez, the lone lefty on the Red Sox staff, entered with a runner on in the seventh inning and allowed a two-run home run to pinch hitter Dylan Moore. Fortunately, Boston had a three-run lead at the time, and Rodriguez earned a hold. It was unclear from spring training how manager Alex Cora planned to deploy relievers outside of setup man Chris Martin and closer Kenley Jansen, but it appears Rodriguez will work higher-leverage situations to shepherd leads to the back-end duo.