TAMPA, Fla. – Outdoor MLB regular-season baseball arrived in Tampa on Friday afternoon. So did Kameron Misner’s first career home run.
The 27-year-old outfielder, who went 1-for-15 in eight games with the Rays last season, led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a blast that knifed through the wind and went over the right field wall to ignite a walk-off celebration that will not soon be forgotten.
Misener’s home run, the first in MLB history by a player whose first career homer was of the walk-off variety on Opening Day, gave the Rays a 3-2 win over the Rockies at Steinbrenner Field.
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“It’s awesome,” said Misner, who made history in front of several family members. “It’s a pretty surreal moment. I was hoping it would go out, but you never know. The wind was swirling and I knew I hit it pretty good. I was just hoping.”
Misener came off the bench to play left field in the eighth inning. His heroics capped a glorious Opening Day with a game-time temperature of 82 degrees and a refreshing breeze. Fireworks and an aircraft refueling tanker flyover made for an opener like none other in the Tampa Bay Rays’ history. With the team unable to play at Tropicana Field this season due to Hurricane Milton tearing apart the stadium’s roof, the Rays moved across the bay to become tenants at Steinbrenner Field.
While Mother Nature shined on this late-March day for a spirited sellout crowd of 10,046 that on multiple occasions chanted “sell the team,” Game No. 1 of 81 on Dale Mabry eventually shined for the Rays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit after six innings – Rockies’ lefty Kyle Freeland allowed only two hits and fanned seven in six innings – to improve to 15-13 in season openers.
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“It was a good atmosphere,” said manager Kevin Cash. “We are going to take it all in an appreciate it. Happy to put on a good show and hopefully the fans will continue to come out.”
The news was not all good. Right fielder Josh Lowe grimaced as he singled in the fifth and was removed from the game with right oblique discomfort. The injury is similar to what he sustained last spring training and kept him sidelined until early May. Lowe returned for 14 games only to miss two more weeks with another right oblique injury.
Littell Ready For Saturday
Zack Littell will take the mound for the Rays on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.) against the Rockies. Given his experience as a reliever, the 29-year-old righthander entered spring training as potentially, if not likely, the odd man out among six candidates in a five-man rotation.
The situation was remedied in an unfortunate way when Shane McClanahan was placed on injured reserve after exiting last Saturday’s Grapefruit League game in Port Charlotte against the Red Sox with nerve irritation in his left triceps. This meant Littell would be one of the five starters.
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“I was lined up to throw one of these first two games, so pretty seamless as far as routine goes,” he said, adding he would have come in relief on Friday or Saturday. “It’s always a good feeling (to start). I want to start. Obviously, I would love to have Shane pitching (Friday).”
Littell is coming off a 2024 campaign in which he threw a team-high 156 innings and went 8-10 with a 3.63 ERA and 1.25 WHIP.
“I want to be that guy that goes out there throws 85 to 100, 105 pitches and gives our team a chance to win every time,” he said.
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