ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Wilyer Abreu dedicated this two-homer game to his newborn twin boys.
Abreu went deep twice in Boston’s season-opening 5-2 win at Texas, including a tiebreaking three-run shot in the ninth inning Thursday. It came nearly eight months after the 25-year-old outfielder’s only other multihomer game – in the same stadium, the day after his grandmother died.
“The the two that I hit last year, they were for my grandmother, but these two, they were for my twins,” Abreu said through a translator.
This two-homer game came 10 days after his sons were born, and after a spring training during which he lost 8-to-10 pounds while dealing with a gastrointestinal virus and doing much of his work on the back fields and in minor league games.
“I knew that I was going to be ready for opening day, and I worked very hard to be able to do that,” he said.
Abreu, who last year as a rookie was a Gold Glove-winning right fielder, had a part in every run for Boston. He singled and scored on a fielder´s choice grounder in the third. He homered in the fifth off Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi and his winner was a 394-foot liner to right-center off Rangers reliever Luke Jackson.
“To be honest, I didn´t expect that,” Abreu said. “But when I hit the second one, I figured it was one for each (son).”
In that game last Aug. 4 in Texas, after his ailing grandmother had died in his native Venezuela, Abreu wiped his face with a towel while looking at the dugout wall after a tying solo homer in the fourth. He still had tears in his eyes when returning to right field in the bottom of that inning.
Abreu said after that game “it obviously was a difficult situation.”
Two innings later, his three-run shot broke open a 7-2 win for the Red Sox.
Manager Alex Cora that night stuck with the left-handed hitter in a tight game after Walter Pennington came out of the Texas bullpen. Abreu won that lefty-lefty matchup by going deep for the second time.
Cora kept Abreu in again Thursday when left-hander Robert Garcia came out of the bullpen in the seventh. Abreu walked then, and was still in the game to face the right-hander Jackson in the ninth.
“Very special moment for me,” Abreu said. “Even better when you can start a season with a big win like this.”
