ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Wilyer Abreu dedicated this two-homer game to his newborn twin boys.
Abreu went deep twice in 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 .
“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 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, 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.”
___
AP MLB:
