After sitting out Opening Day, Gomes gets start

BALTIMORE -- Though Wednesday was the second game for the Red Sox, it was Opening Night for Jonny Gomes, who got the start in left field due in part to his strong history against Orioles righty Ubaldo Jimenez.

Gomes entered the game 5-for-12 lifetime against Jimenez with two homers and five RBIs.

"It's exciting," said Gomes. "The other day wasn't my turn, and that's fine. I like to be in there, win or loss to try to affect the game. It will be nice and I'll go out there and give it my all."

Though Gomes will likely get most of his starts against lefties this season, manager John Farrell will keep an eye on good matchups against righties.

With Shane Victorino on the disabled list, Gomes might get some more opportunities early in the season.

"This is my second year here, and it's pretty impressive how deep this organization is all the way down to the Minors," said Gomes. "From what we did last year, I think there's not really a stat for it, but how well we hid injuries last year -- when you're talking David Ortiz going down in the beginning, Stephen Drew, David Ross, Vic for a minute, [Jacoby Ellsbury] for a while. We truly did hide injuries pretty well last year. Hopefully we can copy that this year when some of these starters go down."