BOSTON — A win in the home opener doesn’t erase everything, but it’s a start.
“It wasn’t the road trip that we wanted. We won the first one and then ended up struggling. We were able to regroup, came home,” Marcello Mayer said. “The team loves playing here. I’m sure the new guys got the experience that everybody loves playing here.”
Everybody loves playing here particularly after a win on Opening Day.
Wilson Contreras homered over the Green Monster with one out in the sixth inning. Four batters later, Mayer hit a two-run homer into the San Diego Padres bullpen. The Red Sox bullpen picked up starter Sonny Gray, and when the Padres’ Ramon Laureano flied to Wilyer Abreu in right, the Sox locked up a 5-1 win Friday afternoon.
The sellout crowd of 36,233 saw the Red Sox end a five-game losing streak, which included a three-game sweep at Houston before coming home.
Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox celebrate after winning the home opener over San Diego on Friday.
BRIAN FLUHARTY — GETTY IMAGES
“It was a good day here,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said in his postgame press conference. “Let’s do it again tomorrow.”
The day started with members of the 1986 American League champion Red Sox being honored. They came in from the left-field line to a rousing standing ovation from the crowd.
Gray was the big off-season trade acquisition for Boston, as the right hander was acquired in an offseason deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Pencilled into the rotation as the team’s No. 2 starter, Gray had a no-decision in his first Red Sox start. He went four innings in a 6-5, 11-inning loss at Cincinnati. Gray gave up four runs, three earned, on six hits. He walked one and struck out five.
Friday, under mostly sunny skies in the capital of the Commonwealth, Gray pitched six strong innings. He held the Padres to two runs on four hits. He did not walk anyone and struck out three.
Gray’s one rough inning was the fifth, as the Padres tied the game 2-2. Miguel Andujar tripled with one out, scored on a single by Gavin Sheets and Sheets scored on Luis Campusano’s double. Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela seemed to lose the ball in the sun.
But after retiring Fernando Tatis Jr. to end the fifth, Gray set the Padres down 1-2-3 in the sixth, with Manny Machado’s fly ball to Jarren Duran ending the frame.
“We’ve got to find ways to score runs, but I think everything starts with pitching,” Cora said. “That’s who we’re going to be. Today was a fun day.”
Greg Weissert and Justin Slaten retired the side in order in their two innings before closer Aroldis Chapman issued a two-out walk to Manny Machado before Laureano flied out to end the game.
With the pitching well in hand on this day, the Red Sox found ways to score runs. They did it via the long ball.
Contreras, acquired in a separate trade with the Cardinals, extended his hitting streak to three games when he hit the first pitch he saw from Michael King in the sixth and sent it over the Monster. It was a 93.4-mile-an-hour slider that did not break. The ball landed 423 feet from home plate, to make it 3-2.
Boston wasn’t done yet as Abreu singled to right and then, with two outs, Mayer hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Wandy Peralta into the San Diego bullpen. Tatis looked like Torii Hunter trying to catch David Ortiz’s homer in the 2013 playoffs. Tatis was as unsuccessful as Hunter was. The two-run homer made it 5-2. Mayer finished the day 2 for 2 with two runs scored and the two RBI.
“I wasn’t sure if he caught it. He’s a tremendous athlete,” said Mayer, who grew up in the San Diego suburbs. “He was one of my favorite players growing up. If he would have caught that, I probably would have changed my mind about that.”
An important sidebar, if the Red Sox are to make some noise in the American League East, was that third baseman Caleb Durbin ended a lengthy hitless streak with an RBI single in the fourth inning. The single up the middle scored Jarren Duran from second, after he led off with a double.
Durbin had come into the game 0-for-2026, which amounted to 18 at-bats. Going back to Sept. 22, with the Milwaukee Brewers, Durbin was a frigid 0 for 33. That came from a player who was third in the 2025 National League Rookie of the Year voting.
“It felt good,” Durbin said. “It was good to drive in a run there. Obviously, we’re scrapping for runs right now and it’s good to come through for the guys. It definitely feels good.
“You’re not going to find grass all the time, so you just try to keep moving forward. That’s the name of the game.”
The Red Sox will try to win a series Saturday afternoon. Connelly Early will pitch for Boston against Randy Vasquez. The final game of the three-game series is Sunday with new addition Ranger Suarez pitching against San Diego’s Walker Buehler. Buehler appeared in 23 games for the Red Sox in 2025.
———San Diego 000 002 000 — 2 4 1Boston 001 103 00x — 5 9 0King 5 2/3 (L 0-1), Peralta 1 1/3, Marinacchio 1 and Campusano, Fermin. Gray 6, Weissert 1 (H,1), Slaten 1 (H,2), Chapman 1 (S,2) and Narvaez. 2B — SD: Campusano. B: Mayer, Duran. 3B — SD: Andujar. HR — B: Comtreras (1), Mayer (1). LOB — SD 3, B 4. T — 2:19. A — 36,233