HOUSTON — Former Astros star Alex Bregman received a standing ovation at Houston’s Daikin Park after a video tribute played on the Jumbotron before the game.

He again heard cheers when he stepped to the plate for the first time in the first inning, and he tipped his helmet to acknowledge the fan base he played in front of from 2016-24.

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He then homered on the third pitch he saw of his first at-bat, igniting boos.

“It was great. I loved it. I loved it,” Bregman said. “I was hoping they would.”

The Red Sox lost 7-6 in Bregman’s return. The 31-year-old third baseman — who signed a three-year, $120 million contract with the Red Sox in February — went 2-for-4.

Why did he want Astros fans to boo him in that situation?

“Just because it’s two good teams getting after it,” Bregman said. “They want to win. You know what I mean? Like both teams want to win really badly. It’s fun. It’s good. It’s good for the game.”

His first-inning homer put Boston ahead 2-0. It went 350 feet with a 95.5 mph exit velocity, coming on an 80.8 mph sweeper from Astros righty Cristian Javier, who was making his first start back after a lengthy rehab from Tommy John surgery.

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“Just pumped up, just fired up,” Bregman said. “Every time you hit a homer in the big leagues, it’s pretty special. But to be able to do it first at-bat back here was pretty cool. Pretty cool moment I’ll never forget.”

He called the video tribute a “great moment.”

“Just tried to soak it all in. AC (manager Alex Cora) told me to enjoy it and I really tried to,” he said. “And it was a special moment.”

But his favorite part of Monday was seeing his team stage a comeback attempt in the seventh after the first two hitters that inning were quickly retired.

Abraham Toro’s solo homer cut it to 7-3. Ceddanne Rafaela and Masataka Yoshida followed with back-to-back doubles, cutting it to 7-4. Roman Anthony made it 7-6 with a two-run homer to right-center field.

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“I think I was most proud of just the fight in the group today,” Bregman said. “Obviously we go down 7-2 and fight back. That was really good. And that’s what good baseball teams do. And to have a chance there in the ninth with a guy in scoring position was pretty awesome.”

Astros closer Josh Hader was unavailable due to shoulder discomfort. Houston used Enyel De Los Santos — on his second team this year and making his Astros debut — for the final out of the eighth inning and the first two outs of the ninth. Lefty Bennett Sousa then replaced De Los Santos and struck out Anthony to end it.

Bregman finished the game in the on-deck circle.

“Just praying for that at-bat,” Bregman said. “It’s fun to come up with a game on the line. … Overall, though, up and down the lineup, I felt like the at-bats tonight were really good. I mean, Roman could have easily had two home runs today. The ball he hit to center field is gone in most places. The ball doesn’t fly here to center field. And Wily (Abreu) just missed two balls to right field. Toro had a great swing. Jarren (Duran) and Ceddanne both are on base twice. I thought it was a really good day. Just tomorrow we gotta get a win.”

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