Wilyer Abreu arrived at Boston Red Sox spring training with a vicious stomach bug. The 2024 Gold Glove winner lost a fair few pounds as a result of the illness and was only able to play in six Grapefruit League games.
But you wouldn't know that based on his Opening Day performance. Abreu came to the plate in a 2-2 game in the top of the ninth inning and cranked a three-run homer to right-center field to silence the Texas crowd at Globe Life Field. The Texas Rangers couldn't answer, and the Red Sox walked away with a 5-2 win to open the season on a high note.
The bomb was Abreu's second of the afternoon. He crushed a laser of a home run well into the right field seats to tie the Rangers at two runs in the fifth inning. Ceddanne Rafaela opened the scoring for Boston when he grounded into an out to score Abreu from third base.
Trevor Story began the Sox's ninth-inning rally that preceded Abreu's heroics. The shortstop worked a nine-pitch walk and stole second base to get into scoring position early, with one out on the board. Kristian Campbell followed with his first big league hit in his Red Sox debut. The second baseman drilled a hard grounder straight to third base, but it took a lucky bounce off Josh Jung's glove and rolled into the outfield to allow Story to reach third base.
Wilyer Abreu powers Red Sox to Opening Day victory with 3-for-3, two home run performance
Make that 2️⃣ for Wilyer!! pic.twitter.com/EhIPHERsSS
— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 27, 2025
In the end, though, it didn't matter where Story and Campbell ended up. Abreu was inevitable. His three-run blast propelled the Sox to victory in Game 1 of 162. He became the first player to hit multiple home runs on Opening Day since Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia did it in 2015.
He also made an excellent defensive play on a fly ball off Jung's bat. The ball soared over Abreu's head in right field, and he played it flawlessly off the bounce to limit Jung to a single and keep Jake Burger at second base. The Rangers scored their first run of the day immediately after Abreu's play, but he surely limited damage beforehand.
Abreu went 3-for-3 after a busy spring, during which he fought through a stomach virus and became a father to twins. Reporters asked the outfielder countless times if he felt ready to play on Opening Day, and he answered confidently "yes" every time. On Opening Day, Red Sox Nation learned not to doubt him.