After failing to record an extra-base hit through six games, Alex Bregman went 3-for-5 with his first home run for the Red Sox, two doubles and three RBI in his team’s 8-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Bregman got things started with a two-run homer in the first off Orioles starter Charlie Morton, opening the scoring and giving the Red Sox a lead they would never surrender. He doubled in the seventh and came around to score, adding an RBI double in the ninth to cap off Boston’s scoring for the afternoon.
The 31-year-old inked a three-year, $120 million deal with the Red Sox in February after nine seasons with the Houston Astros, winning World Series titles in 2017 and 2022.
‘You start the season and you can be feeling great in spring training and swinging the bat well and then the season starts and you get that little bit of adrenaline that you don’t have during spring training,’ Bregman said. ‘Sometimes your swing gets a little big or sometimes your at-bats speed up on you a little bit.’
Bregman and Morton were teammates with the Astros in 2017 and 2018, and the slugger entered Thursday’s contest just 1-for-14 in his career (including playoffs) against the now 41-year-old Orioles starter.
‘Charlie’s gotten me a lot,’ Bregman said. ‘Obviously so much respect for him, he’s a great dude.’
The Red Sox had been limited to 11 runs in their four-game series to begin the season against the Texas Rangers, but the offense came alive at Camden Yards, notching 21 hits in the back-to-back wins before heading to Boston for the home opener at Fenway Park.
‘Hitting is contagious,’ Bregman said. ‘Getting into the rhythm of the season is nice… It’s hard to judge baseball on four games. You need a way bigger sample size. Over the course of time, cream always rises to the top’
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, a coach of Bregman’s in Houston, was thrilled to see his new star have a big day.
‘He’s a good hitter. He’s very smart. He cares about his teammates,’ Cora said. ‘To see him perform is super cool.’
Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas, who homered in the game, thought Bregman’s home run set the tone in the first and ‘he just kept tacking on with doubles.’
Said Casas: ‘Happy to have him on my team.’
Not so much for the rest of the American League East, expected to be one of baseball’s most competitive divisions.
‘Adding Bregman is a huge piece,’ Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. ‘He hurt us all series.’
Bregman experimented with a much-discussed torpedo bat in Wednesday’s game, but went back to his regular lumber for his big performance on Thursday in the series finale, reiterating that ‘it’s the hitter not the bat.’
The Red Sox host the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday afternoon for what will be Bregman’s first game at Fenway Park in a Red Sox uniform.
‘It’s going to be a blast, I can’t wait,’ Bregman said. ‘First and foremost being able to see my wife and son. I haven’t seen them in like a month and a half.
‘The ballpark is going to be rocking.’
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.