{"id":661750,"date":"2026-04-03T23:37:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661750\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T23:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:37:27","slug":"marcelo-mayer-evokes-red-sox-legend-sonny-gray-dominates-to-win-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661750\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcelo Mayer evokes Red Sox legend, Sonny Gray dominates to win home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

After their six-game opening road trip, the Red Sox landed in Boston in the early hours of Thursday morning with a 1-5 record<\/a> that matched the dreary chill and April showers.<\/p>\n

But the sun and Sonny Gray broke through the gloom in time for Fenway Park\u2019s home opener on Friday with a jam-packed 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard,\u201d manager Alex Cora said of losing five of six to begin the season. \u201cI gotta be honest. You see it and you see the numbers and the narrative and all that\u2026 but today was a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took just two hours and 19 minutes for the Red Sox to play and win their first Fenway Friday of the year. This was due in large part to Gray\u2019s breezy six-inning start, which included four 1-2-3 frames, a welcome contrast to the veteran starter\u2019s season debut the previous weekend in Cincinnati, when he lasted just four innings and faced at least four batters in each. He allowed two earned runs against the Padres on four hits, struck out three and issued zero walks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put the team in a position to fail early in that game (against Cincinnati), didn\u2019t really give us a chance,\u201d Gray said, \u201cbut that was that, and this is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing catch in the outfield to warm up before the game, Gray said he began to feel and feed off the energy in the ballpark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh there\u2019s a little buzz in here, that\u2019s nice,’\u201d Gray said. \u201cIt was great. \u2026 It\u2019s very nice to be back here (after a long time on the road), yeah, and the crowd\u2019s a big part of what we do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox starter held the Padres to one base-runner through the first four innings. In the top of the fourth he endeared himself to the Fenway Faithful by striking out third baseman Manny Machado, whom the sold-out crowd of 36,233 booed vociferously throughout the afternoon.<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s fifth-inning rally bid began with a lucky break. Defending American League Gold Glove centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela lost a fly ball in the sunlight and Miguel Andujar wound up standing on third with a one-out triple, rather than back in the dugout. Andujar came home to score moments later on Gavin Sheets\u2019 RBI-single and catcher Luis Campusano\u2019s RBI double tied the game before Gray stemmed the bleeding.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, Gray returned to the mound for the sixth and set the Padres down in order. It was precisely the type of start that made him a Red Sox trade target during the offseason: 87 pitches thrown over six walk-less innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe when we pivoted to (signing Ranger) Su\u00e1rez, it kind of like, let everybody know, \u2018We\u2019re going to pitch,\u2019 \u201d Cora said, alluding to Alex Bregman\u2019s decision to sign with the Chicago Cubs rather than re-sign with Boston. \u201cThe first time through (the starting rotation) didn\u2019t look great. Today, (Sonny) was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BostonBoston Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran celebrates as he scores on a hit by Boston Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin in the fourth inning as the Red Sox take on the Padres in the home opener at Fenway Park. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill\/MNG)
\nBoston bats blast off<\/p>\n

The Red Sox were outscored 32-14<\/a> during their five-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

Cora posited pregame that swinging less might improve his team\u2019s offensive woes, but his players struggled to put that theory into action in the early innings. Padres starter Michael King racked up 12 swing-and-misses in 5 2\/3 innings, including three straight whiffs by Trevor Story, which left Rafaela stranded on second at the end of the third inning.<\/p>\n

The Boston bats tallied nine hits, one walk, struck out eight times and were 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position and four men left on base.<\/p>\n

The first Red Sox hit and run at Fenway this season belonged to Marcelo Mayer, who led off the fourth with a double and scored easily on Rafaela\u2019s one-out RBI single.<\/p>\n

After beginning his Red Sox career 0 for 19 \u2013 0 for 34 dating back to last season \u2013 third baseman Caleb Durbin came through in the clutch, with a two-out RBI single in the fourth, which ensured that even when the Padres plated a pair of runs in the fifth, they never led in the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad that he got the hit,\u201d Cora said of Durbin. \u201cI think everybody was able to breathe, including me. \u2026 He\u2019s going to be OK. He\u2019s a good ballplayer, I think people here are going to love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a day of firsts for Willson Contreras. The longtime catcher-turned-first-baseman, who during spring training became the first player in Red Sox history to challenge (successfully) with the Automatic Ball-Strike System, also became the first person to utilize the new technology at Major League Baseball\u2019s oldest ballpark.<\/p>\n

So assured was Contreras of his leadoff walk to begin the bottom of the second inning that he flipped his bat and began strolling to first base while tapping his helmet to request the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 100% sure that was a ball,\u201d Contreras said of his confident demeanor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings an attitude,\u201d Cora said of Contreras, \u201cand I think he\u2019s going to gel well with what we expect here from players. I think they\u2019re going to love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contreras\u2019 second first of the day came when the Red Sox needed it most. Shortly after the Padres tied the contest in the top of the fifth, Contreras untied it with his first Red Sox home run. As his no-doubter soared 423 feet into the bright blue sky and over the Green Monster to give Boston a lead they would hold until the end, he flipped his bat for the second time and began rounding the bases.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t wait to get here. It\u2019s a dream come true,\u201d Contreras said. \u201cI feel like a Hall of Famer walking into this clubhouse, playing at home in Boston where so many Hall of Famers played here, it\u2019s really special. And that brings out a little extra energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilyer Abreu followed Contreras with a single, which knocked King out of the game.<\/p>\n

It was then that Xander Bogaerts, a rookie during the 2013 Red Sox championship run, and countless others in attendance were treated to the ultimate blast from the past. Mayer sent Padres reliever Wandy Peralta\u2019s first pitch soaring deep to right-center, where right-fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. gave chase to the point of flipping head over heels into the bullpen like Torii Hunter during the 2013 ALCS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Willson homer, that was electric,\u201d Cora said. \u201cThe Marcelo one, he hit it and we were like, hesitant in the dugout, and then that happened (with Tatis) and the place went loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armed to the teeth<\/p>\n

With a 5-2 lead, the Red Sox raced through the final frames. Greg Weissert and Justin Slaten pitched perfect innings in the seventh and eighth, respectively.<\/p>\n

Aroldis Chapman picked up his second save of the season and the 369th of his career, which moved him past former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon and into sole possession of 11th place on MLB\u2019s all-time saves list.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to find ways to score runs,\u201d Cora said, \u201cbut I think everything starts with pitching. That\u2019s who we\u2019re going to be. And today was a fun day at the ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After their six-game opening road trip, the Red Sox landed in Boston in the early hours of Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,1350,4,89,2543,18,1587,1821],"class_list":{"0":"post-661750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-fenway-park","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-red-sox","15":"tag-redsox","16":"tag-san-diego-padres","17":"tag-sonny-gray","18":"tag-xander-bogaerts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116343410717831936","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}