FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Marcus Walden said his family kept him going.

"I was in Independent Ball in 2015," Walden said. "And I honestly called my wife (Nichole) one day in June. Told her, 'If you want me to come home and quit, I'll go home and go to school and get a job. She told me, 'Not a chance.'"

Walden's years of hard work and long minor league bus rides finally paid off here Monday. He has made the the 2018 Boston Red Sox Opening Day roster after posting a 0.69 ERA (one earned run, 13 innings) as a non-roster invitee to big league camp.

He teared up when manager Alex Cora told him he made the team.

"Tears of joy," Walden said. "To be able to break camp -- I mean that's a dream come true."

He played for Lancaster of the Atlantic League in 2015.

"It was kind of a turning point in my career, obviously," he said. "I enjoyed playing when I was independent ball. But it was something that financially, that's a grind. I played seven years on a minor league salary. I got called up with Toronto (in 2014) and the next year I was making independent ball money again. Financially when you've got a kid on the way, it was tough."

He was on Toronto's 25-man roster for five days but he never pitched. He never even warmed up.

"I'm one of very few big league phantom players," he said.