From the moment Marcelo Mayer was drafted No. 4 overall in the 2021 MLB Draft, Red Sox fans have dreamed of how his sweet left-handed swing would play at Fenway Park.

Wednesday evening, everyone got to see for themselves.

Red Sox rookie Mayer enjoyed his big Fenway breakout, cranking two home runs in the club’s 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Mayer’s homers were both solo shots to almost the exact same spot in right field past Pesky’s Pole, and the rookie finished 2 for 4 in the best performance of his young career so far.

“They felt really good,” Mayer said postgame. “To get the first one at home was special and obviously to get the second one, any time you can help the team out offensively it means a lot.”

Starting pitcher Walker Buehler also came through with a brilliant outing, and the Red Sox collectively hit four solo homers, the first two coming on the first pitch of their respective innings.

“They had a good gameplan going into it and they executed,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We were very aggressive early in counts, Jarren (DUran) hit it in the air, (Marcelo) hit it in the air, it was a good day for the offense.”

Duran started things off by smashing the first pitch thrown by Rays starter Zack Littell into the bullpen for a leadoff home run. When the Rays tied the game with an RBI fielder’s choice by Josh Lowe in the top of the second, Mayer delivered an immediate answer to start the bottom of the frame.

Mayer’s homer was measured at 418 feet, and his next time up he nearly got the same result, hitting another bomb to right field 410 feet to extend Boston’s lead to 3-1. In the process the 22-year-old became the youngest Red Sox player to record a multi-homer game since Rafael Devers in 2018, according to the club.

He is also just the 10th Red Sox player to have a multi-homer game within his first 15 career games, joining Michael Chavis (2019), Travis Shaw (2015), Will Middlebrooks (2012), John Marzano (1987), Dave Stapleton (1980), Billy Conigliaro (1969), Bob Tillman (1962) and Ted Williams (1939).

Coming less than a week after hitting his first career home run at Yankee Stadium, Mayer said getting to round the bases at Fenway Park was special.

“It’s always better to hit a homer at home compared to on the road, I’d much rather get cheered than booed,” Mayer said. “It was awesome, I love this place, I love the energy that Fenway Park brings, so it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Abraham Toro hit the fourth home run in the bottom of the fifth, which came shortly after the Rays tied the game and gave Boston a 4-3 lead.

While the offense was doing its thing, Buehler became the latest Red Sox starting pitcher to take a major step forward.

Coming into the series the Red Sox had allowed a first-inning run in seven of their prior 10 games, and for more than a month the club’s non-Garrett Crochet starters were averaging fewer than five innings per outing. But this week both Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito kept the Rays off the board in the first before completing six innings, and Wednesday Buehler made it three for three.

It wasn’t a perfect night for the right-hander. Buehler loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the second and allowed a run before escaping without further damage. He also allowed a two-out, two-run home run to Yandy Diaz in the top of the fifth, which briefly tied the game at 3-3 before Toro’s subsequent shot.

But all told it was Buehler’s best outing since coming off the injured list. The right-hander finished with three runs allowed over seven innings with six hits, one walk and seven strikeouts, punctuating his evening by winning a 10-pitch battle against Lowe and drawing a groundout to first.

“The stuff was really good,” Cora said of Buehler’s performance.

Wednesday marked just the 10th outing of seven or more innings by a Red Sox starter this year, and the fourth by someone other than Crochet.

Things got tense in the top of the eighth when the Rays had two batters reach against left-hander Justin Wilson, putting the tying run in scoring position with one out. Cora handed the ball to Greg Weissert to preserve the one-run lead, and the righty got an immediate boost from catcher Carlos Narvaez, who threw out his second would-be base-stealer of the game by nailing Diaz attempting to take third.

Instead of facing men at the corners with one out and the prospect of a fly ball tying the game, Weissert now had two outs and only a man on first. That cushion proved essential after Weissert walked a man and allowed an infield single to load the bases, but he was able to escape the jam by striking out Matt Thaiss to end the inning.

The Red Sox were unable to take advantage of a leadoff double by Narvaez in the bottom of the eighth, but Aroldis Chapman closed things out with a perfect top of the ninth, giving the club its seventh one-run win of the season and its first since May 24.

“This team shows a lot of fight,” Mayer said. “I think we played a really good game on Monday, and we came back and won two in a row. I think that shows how good of a team we can be when we put both sides of the ball together.”

Now the Red Sox head into this weekend’s showdown with the Yankees having won consecutive series for the first time since early May.

“We’re getting that good feeling,” Cora said. “We won the series in New York, we won this one, two rivals, two good teams, now enjoy the off-day and be ready for Friday.”

Originally Published: June 11, 2025 at 9:32 PM EDT