It’s only up from here, right?
All eyes were on MLB’s No. 1 overall prospect Roman Anthony on Monday night when he made his long-awaited big-league debut for the Red Sox.
Those eyes may have gotten to the 21-year-old, though, as he made a brutal error in the top of the fifth inning with two outs when a hard hit ball to Anthony in right field went from a relatively routine play to a frantic scramble.
It was a 111.2 MPH line drive off the bat of Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz that caught Anthony in a limbo as he charged to field the ball off its third hop — but it snuck right under his glove and wound up rolling all the way to the warning track where Ceddanne Rafaela ranged over from center and got the ball back to the infield.
Tampa Bay had a runner on first when Anthony made the blunder, and he would score and extend the Rays’ lead to 3-0.
“It just can’t happen,” Anthony told reporters afterward, per ESPN. “It’s tough when you lose a game like that, you feel like that’s the reason we lost — little things like that. Just got to learn from it and be better.”
Diaz reached third on the error, but no further harm was done after that as Boston pitcher Brayan Bello struck out the next batter to get out of the inning.
The Red Sox went on to lose the AL East battle, 10-8 in 11 innings, and fell to 32-36 on the season.
As for the rest of Anthony’s day, he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and a walk in five plate appearances.
Anthony’s whirlwind call-up came up earlier Monday when he was with the Triple-A team in Worcester and came after weeks of hype and speculation.
“It was nice to finally take the field, forget about all the outside noise and just be able to take the field with the guys,” he told reporters afterward. “Unfortunate we couldn’t get a win, but it was a good experience — good to just get the first one over with.”
While he’ll still be hunting for his first MLB hit, he did knock one item off the bucket list when he recorded his first RBI in the bottom of the ninth on a groundout.
The Red Sox were trailing by two when Anthony stepped up to the plate with runners on second and third with just one out.
A signature walk-off homer or a game-tying base knock was certainly on the minds of Anthony and Boston fans, but ultimately he did his job getting in one runner and allowing his team to tie things up in the next at-bat.
While the error may have put a damper on Anthony’s debut, MLB’s No. 1 prospect likely doesn’t hold that title for no reason.
With his first big mistake out of the way, the chances to prove himself are now even more plentiful.