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An emotional Wilyer Abreu dedicates 2-homer performance to late grandmother
“I dedicated this game to her and I was playing with my heart in my hands."
Wilyer Abreu arrived at Globe Life Field on Sunday with a heavy heart — and far more important things on his mind than just baseball.
The 25-year-old outfielder learned on Saturday night that his grandmother passed away in his native Venezuela after battling a long illness. Despite the crushing news, he largely went about his business in the lead-up to Sunday’s matchup against the Rangers — opting to not share the news with Alex Cora and Boston’s top brass.
For Abreu, the best way to honor his grandmother was to remain in the lineup and do whatever he could to help Boston secure a much-needed win on the road.
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And in his first game since finding out about his grandmother’s passing, Abreu put together the best game of his promising career — connecting on two home runs and driving in four runs in Boston’s 7-2 win over Texas.
“I was playing for her,” Abreu said after the game, via NESN. “I dedicated this game to her and I was playing with my heart in my hands. So for me to be able to go out there and perform, it was very special.”
Despite his efforts to keep Saturday’s news under wraps, Abreu understandably let his emotions out after swatting his first homer of the game — a solo shot to left-center against Nathan Eovaldi — in the top of the fourth inning.
Once he returned to the dugout, cameras captured Abreu crying — with Cora discerning the news about his family’s loss.
“I saw him crying and I was like, ‘Oh, it happened,'” Cora said postgame, via NESN. “We talked to him and he was like, ‘I’m good to go, I’m good to go.’ And was he good to go.”
Even though Cora has usually removed Abreu from late-game situations when he’s matched up against a left-handed reliever, Boston’s manager opted to keep him in the lineup in the sixth inning with southpaw Walter Pennington on the mound.
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Abreu rewarded Cora’s faith in him by golfing a pitch from Pennington into right field for a three-run shot — giving Boston a 6-2 lead. It marked the first time in Abreu’s MLB career that he has hit a home run against a lefty.
“God is good,” Cora said of deciding to stick with Abreu against a lefty. “And, sometimes you make decisions in the game by the metrics. I’ll tell you right now, I let him hit because I was like, ‘Something good is going to happen here against a lefty.’ That’s life. We’re believers and we’re not perfect. And we try to live the good life. And the Lord kind of rewarded him.”
Abreu, who leads all qualified MLB rookies in OPS (.856), has been one of the top bright spots for Boston this season — batting .275 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI over 84 games.
But after an emotional couple of days, Abreu was just grateful for the support of his teammates — and the chance to honor his grandmother with a win.
“We’re a family and they showed that today,” Abreu said. “They showed that I can rely on them and they know that they can rely on me as well and so forth. So it’s very nice for me to count on them as a family and to have that support.”
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“I think in these situations, just focusing on the game and doing what he was able to do is incredible and hats off to him,” Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta added, per MLB’s Ian Browne. “I’m very sorry about that loss and he has a room full of his family in here as well, and we’re always going to be there for him, but we got the best of him today and it was just incredible to watch and it’s just a special moment in baseball.”
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