Boston Red Sox’ Wilyer Abreu celebrates after his inside-the-park home run off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Joe LaSorsa on Monday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)AP
BOSTON — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 13-6 win over the Reds at Fenway Park on Monday.
1) Red Sox’ Wilyer Abreu hit an inside-the-park home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth. It marked Boston’s first inside-the-park homer since Eduardo Nuñez hit one March 29, 2018 at Tampa Bay. It was the first inside-the-park homer by a Red Sox hitter at Fenway Park since Jacoby Ellsbury did it Sept. 19, 2011 against the Orioles.
Abreu connected on a 93.4 mph four-seam fastball from Cincinnati lefty reliever Joe La Sorsa. He crushed it 423 feet to center field. The ball hit off the top of the short wall in the triangle and took a huge bounce over center fielder TJ Friedl’s head. Friedl fell down and the ball kept rolling on the warning track toward left field. Reds right fielder Rece Hinds ended up chasing it down. He tossed the ball into the cutoff man who didn’t attempt a throw home.
2) Abreu also hit a grand slam — over the fence — in the eighth inning. He became the eighth Red Sox hitter ever to belt an inside-the-park homer and regular homer in the same game and the first to do it since Pokey Reese on May 8, 2004. It went 407 feet with a 108.5 mph exit velocity. He leads the Red Sox with 16 home runs.
Abreu also is the first Red Sox player with an inside-the-park homer and a grand slam in the same game since 1939.
3) Boston sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and scored seven runs on six hits and three walks. Seven runs is the most runs scored by the Red Sox in the first inning at Fenway since July 25, 2019, when they scored seven vs. the Yankees.
4) Reds starter Chase Burns — the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft — recorded just one out. He was charged with all seven runs, five of which were earned. It was just his second career start. Baseball America ranks him No. 8 on its Top 100 list.
5) Trevor Story blasted his 12th homer as part of Boston’s seven-run first inning. Story connected on an 89.2 mph slider after seeing two 99 mph fastballs. He sent it 413 feet to center field and it left his bat at 103.1 mph.
6) Ace Garrett Crochet retired the first 10 batters he faced, then gave up three straight hits in a three-run fourth inning. He ended up allowing five runs (four earned), seven hits and one walk while striking out seven. His ERA jumped from 2.06 to 2.26.
7) Manager Alex Cora said about the pitching matchup before the game, “That should be fun tonight. We have our guy. They have their guy. It should be fun tonight. Not for the hitters.”
Turns out, it was a fun night for only the hitters as the two teams combined for 19 runs and 23 hits.
8) Jordan Hicks, the hard-throwing reliever acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, made his Red Sox debut after being activated from the IL before the game. He pitched a perfect eighth inning and reached 100.5 mph with his fastball.
9) Jarren Duran homered for the first time since June 11. It was his sixth of the season and wrapped around Pesky’s Pole (373 feet, 97.8 mph).