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Caleb Durbin’s redemption, Willson Contreras’s swagger & other takeaways from Red Sox’ home-opening win
“Today was a fun day at the ballpark."
All the Red Sox might have needed was some home cooking.
Fueled by a pair of homers from Marcelo Mayer and Willson Contreras, the Red Sox snapped their five-game losing skid on Friday — defeating Xander Bogaerts and the Padres, 5-2, in their home opener at Fenway Park.
It was a welcome sight for Alex Cora’s club, which benefited from a bounce-back start from Sonny Gray (6 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 earned runs). Boston limited San Diego to just four total hits in the victory.
“Today was a fun day at the ballpark,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted.
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Here are seven takeaways from Boston’s first win of the year at Fenway.
Caleb Durbin gets off the schneid
Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin got the full Fenway Park experience on Friday afternoon.
The new infielder made his way back to Boston’s dugout while getting serenaded by boos at the end of the second inning — fresh off an unfortunate check swing that resulted in a double play.
Just two innings later, the scrappy third baseman basked in a chorus of cheers at first base after driving in Jarren Duran with a single into center field.
“That’s Boston, right?” Durbin said with a smile postgame. “You want fans that are poured into it, though. And when it’s … bad, you’re beating yourself up more than anything. So you definitely don’t take it personally. It’s honestly a good thing, because you want the fans to be on you, and that’s what makes Boston special.”
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It’s been a challenging start to the season for Durbin, who was acquired by Boston in early February as part of a trade with the Brewers. Already handed the unenviable task of replacing All-Star Alex Bregman at third, Durbin struggled over the last week.
His RBI single in the fourth broke an 0-for-19 slide this season — and an extended 0-for-34 stretch in regular-season play that started on Sept. 22 during his time with the Brewers.
Cora was relieved to see Durbin make the most of the clean slate afforded during a home opener.
“I’m glad that he got the hit. I think everybody was able to breathe, including me,” Cora said. “But the kid, he played great at third base, put a good swing in there after the weird double play in the first. He’s gonna be okay. He’s a good ball player. I think people here are gonna love him.”
Mayer capitalizes against a lefty
Alex Cora preached restraint with Marcelo Mayer entering the 2026 season.
Even with his evident talent, Boston’s manager warned that the 23-year-old infielder was likely going to be eased into his first full MLB season as a platoon player — keeping him insulated from left-handed pitching out of the gate.
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We’ll see if Cora changes his approach moving forward, given how Mayer handled Padres southpaw Wander Peralta in the sixth inning.
Mayer jumped on a first-pitch sinker from Peralta, depositing the offering into the San Diego bullpen (despite Fernando Tatis Jr.’s best efforts) for a two-run shot — marking his first big fly of the season.
For all of Boston’s extended lineup struggles during their six-game road trip, Mayer has started the year on a strong note at the plate — with four of his five hits going for extra bases.
“I’m just not trying to make it bigger than what it is,” Mayer said postgame of homering off a lefty. “It’s a baseball game, and if AC wants me in against lefties, my job is to do whatever I need to do in that moment.”
Sonny Gray bounces back
It wasn’t the sharpest debut for Sonny Gray last week against the Reds, with the 36-year-old righty tagged for six hits and four runs over four innings in a one-run loss.
After trudging through a 35-pitch first inning in that initial loss at Cincinnati, it took Gray just eight pitches (six strikes) to make it through the first on Friday against the Padres.
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That brief trek through the heart of San Diego’s lineup set the tone for a strong start from Gray, who gave up just two runs and four hits over six sharp innings of work. The righty struck out three and walked none in the victory.
The only instance where Gray ran into some trouble came in the top of the fifth.
Despite his standing as the AL’s top defensive center fielder, Ceddanne Rafaela lost a Miguel Andujar line drive in the sun — with the San Diego DH awarded a triple on the play.
Gavin Sheets then punched a single into right to plate Andujar before Luis Campusano doubled to center — bringing in Sheets and knotting the game up at 2-2 at the time.
Gray managed to get Tatis to ground out to short to end the fifth-inning rally, and retired the side in order in the sixth inning to close out a solid afternoon on the mound.
After Boston’s ace in Garrett Crochet faltered on Wednesday in Houston (five runs allowed), Gray rose to the occasion as a much-needed stopper for his club at Fenway.
“He was really good,” Cora said of Gray. “That’s what we expect — go out there pitch, play decent defense, and timely hitting. Today we hit two balls in the air. They went out of the ballpark. … But I think everything starts with pitching. That’s who we’re going to be.”
Willson Contreras brings some swagger
Veteran first baseman Willson Contreras ingratiated himself to Red Sox fans in record time.
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He started off Boston’s three-run surge in the bottom of the sixth — jumping on the first pitch from San Diego starter Michael King and launching it over the Green Monster to break a 2-2 deadlock.
Contreras flipped his bat as he started his trot toward first — with Fenway Park roaring in approval.
But it was not the first time on Friday that the fiery infielder showcased some of his swagger.
In the top of the second, Contreras was caught looking for a strikeout. But he was so confident that the 3-2 offering from King was a ball that — immediately after tapping his helmet to call for an ABS challenge — he flipped his bat and jogged over to first base.
Seconds later, his confidence was validated when the review showed that the pitch was a ball, giving him a walk.
Beyond his production at the plate as Boston’s clean-up hitter, Contreras is expected to be a tone-setter for a younger Red Sox roster.
“On the challenge, I was 100 percent sure that it was a ball, for sure,” Contreras said. “That was my reaction. I didn’t try to show up the umpire or anything like that. …. I’m not trying to [show anybody up], that’s the way I play. If you like it or not, I don’t care. I’m here to win. … I’m here to go to war with this team. I’m loving it here.”
Bogaerts returns to Fenway
For the first time since signing with the Padres in December 2022, Xander Bogaerts stepped up to the plate at Fenway Park for the first time as a visitor.
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The 33-year-old shortstop — who won two World Series over his 10 years in Boston — received a standing ovation from the Fenway crowd during his first at-bat in the top of the first.
“Tip my hat to the fans,” Cora said postgame of the display toward Bogaerts. “That ovation to the shortstop over there? Wow. That was probably the best out of all of them that have come back.
“That was really good. That was cool. I know he was here the last time [San Diego visited]; he was hurt. But that was tremendous. That’s the way it should be with everybody who has won a World Series here.”
Bogaerts’s first game back in Boston wasn’t too kind to him, as he went 0-for-4 at the plate — with a potential extra-base hit robbed off a leaping grab by Jarren Duran in the fourth inning.
Red Sox honor ’86 team
Ahead of Friday’s home opener, the Red Sox paid tribute to the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Boston club that won the American League pennant, with close to 25 former players on hand for the ceremony.
Some of the players who took part on Friday’s ceremony included: Tony Armas, Marty Barrett, Wade Boggs, Oil Can Boyd, Mike Brown, Steve Crawford, Pat Dodson, Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman, Bruce Hurst, Rene Lachemann, Tim Lollar, Spike Owen, Jim Rice, Ed Romero, Joe Sambito, Dave Sax, Calvin Schiraldi, Jeff Sellers, Bob Stanley, Mike Stenhouse, Marc Sullivan, Mike Trujillo, and Rob Woodward.
Barrett and Hurst delivered the first pitches for a new slate of games at Fenway.
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You can watch the full Opening Day ceremony below:
Oviedo sidelined
It wasn’t all good news on Friday at Fenway.
Ahead of first pitch, Alex Cora announced that right-handed pitcher Johan Oviedo was going to land on the 15-day injured list due to a strain in his pitching elbow.
Oviedo — acquired in a trade with the Pirates this past winter — saw his velocity take a sizable dip in his first outing on Monday against the Astros.
Oviedo, 28, will undergo an MRI and have that imaging examined by Dr. Keith Meister, who performed Tommy John surgery on him in November 2023.
“We’ll see where we’re at, as far as comparing the MRIs to before,” Cora said. “We just have to be patient with it and wait for that to happen.”
Even though Oviedo didn’t experience any pain on Tuesday after his first appearance, things went downhill on Wednesday morning.
“When I woke up in the morning, I couldn’t bend or flex my arm when I was getting out of bed,” Oviedo said postgame.
As Oviedo looks to get good news from Dr. Meister, the Red Sox at least have options — as Oviedo opened the year out of the bullpen and Connelly Early is already in place as Boston’s No. 5 starter.
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