Jackie Bradley Jr.

Boston Red Sox left fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. pulls in a deep fly out by New York Yankees' Robinson Cano during the third inning of an opening day baseball game, Monday, April 1, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

NEW YORK — With a bump into the Budweiser sign on the left-field fence in the Bronx, Red Sox rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. debuted with a fine running catch to save a run Monday in an 8-2 win over the Yankees.

He's still waiting for a hit. Bradley Jr. went 0-for-2 at the plate in his first major league game, but he walked three times, a result to be celebrated. He collected his first RBI and displayed the same top-notch plate discipline he had in spring training.

"It was exciting," Bradley Jr. said. "It’s very memorable. I’ll never forget it and I was so glad my family was able to come up here with me.”

All in all, quite a first day for the 22-year-old in a ballpark where he said he "started looking up into the sky, seeing how far it goes up."

The box-score line: 0-for-2, one run, one driven in, three walks and one strikeout. Through everything, his most important moment Monday — and he had a lot of moments — may have been beating a throw to second base in the second inning, when the Sox opened the scoring and pulled ahead 4-0 against Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia.

The bases were loaded, Bradley Jr. was on first and Jose Iglesias hit a ball to the hole. Yankees shortstop Eduardo Nunez went to second, but Bradley Jr. "got a big lead because nobody was really holding me on because people were in front of me."

"Probably the key to that four-run second inning was Jackie beating out that throw to second base to not only extend the inning but give us a chance to put up a crooked number," Sox manager John Farrell said. "Jackie impacted the game in a number of ways."

On the third-inning catch that helped preserve the 4-0 lead, Bradley Jr. was running toward the fence with his head following the ball over his right shoulder. The ball, which had odd spin off the bat of Robinson Cano, nearly ended up going behind Bradley Jr., toward his left shoulder.

Reaching over his head and stumbling on the warning track as he tried to turn around, Bradley Jr. reeled it in.

"I knew right off the bat it was going to be over my head," Bradley Jr. said. "It was one of those balls where you run back and pick a spot where you think it’s going to land and I work on that quite a bit often. I happened to look back up at the right time and there it was coming right off me. ... The wind was kind of pushing it back towards me so that helped me out a lot too.”

The Yankees had a runner on second with two out.

"I didn’t think (Cano) hit it real well," Sox starter Jon Lester said. "I knew he hit it good but the ball carried a little bit but ball carried a bit, you could tell way Jackie was going back on that ball, think it kind of surprised him, stayed with it and did great job of running it down."

It's a safe bet that Jonny Gomes would not have made the play.

"To start with, it's a heck of a catch, but at the same time he hasn't been here, he doesn't know the wind, he doesn't know how the ball travels," Gomes said. "There are so many elements that he had to battle going into that. At the same time, like a young Jay Bruce, you're putting some weight on your shoulders now. We don't have time to be dropping fly balls and blowing the game. You're not up here developing. We have to win games, so if you're a good outfielder in the minor leagues, you better be good out here."

Bradley Jr. fell behind 0-2 in his first major-league at-bat, with the game scoreless, two men on and one out in the second. He could've been rung up on a 1-2 pitch, but home-plate umpire Ted Barrett appeared to think C.C. Sabathia missed outside. That led to the first free pass.

He walked again in the fifth and ninth innings, and had an RBI groundout in the seventh. The run was important at the time, putting the Sox ahead 5-2.

“It’s very good, being able to see that many pitches, work the count," Bradley Jr. said. "I really pride myself on trying to make the pitcher work and not swing on trying to make the pitcher work and not swing at his pitches. That way I’m able to get on base and give the guys behind me a chance to let me run a little bit.”

Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat writer @EvanDrellich on Twitter. He can be reached by email at evan.drellich@masslive.com.

