Red Sox energized by raucous crowd, show fight in winning home opener

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BOSTON — Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora leaned against a wall in the back of the press conference room at Fenway Park, four hours before the first pitch of Friday’s home opener.

He had his head down, listening to Garrett Crochet discuss the six-year, $170 million contract extension he’d signed three days earlier.

Crochet was asked a question about the organization’s bright future with prospects on the rise and the possibility of better days ahead. Crochet’s answer caused Cora to lift his head and smile.

“It’s incredibly important, but the present is also what I’m extremely focused on at the moment,” Crochet said. “Those (prospects) have a chance to help us this year, but right now I’m just looking forward to (the game) today.”

Cora nodded his head in approval.

For the last five years, the focus has been on the future as the Red Sox scuffled through mediocrity and last-place finishes. After an offseason of major trades and free-agent signings, the front office did its part to put a better team on the field. Now that team is trying to prove the investments were worth the cost.

That focus on winning now was on display on Friday when the Red Sox beat the St. Cardinals 13-9 to win their first home opener since 2020.

“Pretty pumped, it was a fun atmosphere,” said Trevor Story, whose three-run homer in the first inning followed by Wilyer Abreu’s solo shot powered the Red Sox to a commanding 5-0 lead. “We know how good we can be. We still have a lot of work to do. And a lot of preparation to do. But we’re living in the moment, and we’re trusting each other, and we know what we can do.”

There was a different kind of buzz around Fenway Park even before the Red Sox burst out to their early lead and then battled to add insurance runs in the middle innings, holding on late for a satisfying win.

The pregame ceremony at a sold-out Fenway Park. (Paul Rutherford / Imagn Images)

A sellout crowd of 36,462 rocked Fenway, eager to see what a new-look Red Sox team bursting with potential looks like. The players fed off the fan energy.

“That was electric,” said rookie Kristian Campbell, who went 1-for-2 with two walks and has now reached base safely in all eight games this season. “The crowd was super loud. Especially on the back-to-back home runs. It was great to see that early in the game. It’s my first time experiencing that, so it was cool, for sure.”

Alex Bregman, who signed a three-year, $120 million deal with the club in February was so anxious about the home opener, he couldn’t sleep. Knowing how eager the third baseman would be, Cora texted him on Thursday night not to arrive at 6 a.m.

“Obviously, everyone was fired up about this year,” said Bregman, confirming he arrived around 8:30 a.m. “We feel like we have a really good team, and now it’s time to slow down, get into the rhythm of the season, put together good at-bats, and execute. I think we’ve done a better job of that the last few days and (we’re) looking forward to continuing to do that.”

Six months ago, Cora was in the same press conference room as the one on Friday, lamenting another disappointing season with more vague promises of better days ahead.

Friday felt like one of those better days.

“I’m not here saying it’s the World Series or bust,” Cora said. “I’m here to say that we have a good baseball team, but we have to get better. We have to work, and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”

There’s undoubtedly a long road ahead, but the Red Sox showed a relentlessness at the plate that’s powered them in years past.

After a Bregman RBI double opened the scoring, Story’s three-run homer in the first set the tone. It was his first homer at Fenway since Sept. 14, 2023. Abreu then made it back-to-back shots. He now has three homers and five extra-base hits through eight games this season.

The back-to-back homers allowed the Red Sox to debut their new dugout home-run celebration as Story donned a miniature Wally the Green Monster helmet in the dugout. He noted it was Jarren Duran’s idea and Duran later credited assistant GM Raquel Ferreira for getting it made. It added to the celebratory mood as the crowd roared in the background.

Say hello to the home run Wally head.

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— Red Sox (@redsox.com) April 4, 2025 at 12:03 PM

“That’s a different first inning than the last few home openers,” Cora said. “It was the other way around the last few years and for us to score five, I was thinking about it, like that feels a lot better.”

The Red Sox offense was relentless, collecting 16 hits, including six extra-base hits. They needed to be, as starter Walker Buehler had a lackluster day on the mound. He gave up five runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts over five innings, allowing the Cardinals to pull within 6-5. He’s allowed nine earned runs in 9 1/3 innings over his first two starts with the Red Sox.

“Frustrating to say the least,” Buehler said. “You come to a new team and whatever pedigree I have, I want to show that and be that guy here and I want to help this team win and to not do that the first two weeks is frustrating.”

The Red Sox answered when the Cardinals rallied, however, as Boston added two runs in the fifth on an Abreu RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Campbell on a play that went under review for fan interference but was ultimately ruled in Boston’s favor. They continued to pile on, scoring five more runs in the seventh and eighth, highlighted by a Rafael Devers RBI single. Devers went 2-for-3 with two walks as he continues to rebound after a rough start on the road.

One blip was the Red Sox’s defense, which had been solid in nearly every game on the road trip. A few miscues late in the game made the score closer than it needed to be, as the Cardinals scored three in the ninth before Aroldis Chapman took over for Cooper Criswell and closed the door.

The Red Sox are far from perfect, and admitted so on Friday. But they have all season to continue refining their team and the opener marked the most promising first game at Fenway the club has seen in a while.

“Honestly, I think it feels like a nice little deep breath to actually have some fans cheering for us,” Duran said. “So that was really cool to get the crowd involved right away.”

It’s still too early in the season tell what this Red Sox team will be, or what they will accomplish.

“Ultimately we’re going to be talking in six or seven months about our success by measures of wins and losses and not vibes,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said at Crochet’s press conference to start the day. “But the hope is a group of people that come together and put the collective ahead of themselves kind of lays the track for success.”

On Friday, in their first game at Fenway, they did just that.

(Top photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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