BOSTON — Roman Anthony got his first major league hit, and his family was there — practically sitting in the dugout.
Anthony, the top prospect in baseball, was called up from Triple-A on Monday, a move that came together so quickly that his friends and family didn’t have time to get to Boston from Florida. But his supporters were in the front rows right next to the home dugout at Fenway Park on Tuesday night when Anthony lined a two-run double to left in the first inning of a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I didn’t even really notice that they were there until I went out for my first at-bat,” Anthony told reporters, adding with a laugh: “Nobody really gave me a heads-up that they were going to be that close.”
Anthony said he didn’t interact with his family during the game. But manager Alex Cora looked over from the dugout and saw the 21-year-old’s mother, Lori, crying.
“Just to be around and see the smiles — and saw some tears, too. It’s pretty cool,” Cora said. “I know it was a special day for the kid yesterday, but they weren’t here. So to have his family now and get his first knock, that means a lot.”
Anthony had some time to take pictures on the field with the traveling party of about a dozen people — father, mother, sister, brother, grandparents, agents, a couple friends. He went back on the field in the darkened ballpark to spend some more time with them after talking to reporters.
“That group out there has been with me every step of the way,” he said. “So just to see them here — they had to miss yesterday unfortunately, it was kind of quick notice — but to have them here is special for sure.”
A day after going hitless with an RBI groundout in his major league debut, Anthony came up with runners on second and third in the first inning and drove the ball to left to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Anthony, who let a ball roll under his glove for an error in his debut, also made a sliding catch on Tuesday night on Jonathan Aranda‘s sinking liner to right-center in the sixth, protecting a one-run lead and earning a salute from pitcher Lucas Giolito.
The second-round draft pick went viral over the weekend when he hit a 497-foot grand slam in Triple-A Worcester. He batted .288 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs in 58 games for the WooSox this season.
The Red Sox said Anthony is the youngest player in franchise history to record three or more RBI in his first two games. Anthony is 21 years, 28 days old; Jim Rice was 21 years, 164 days old when he did it in 1974.
