BOSTON -- Wilyer Abreu mauled a baseball to the deepest part of Fenway Park on Monday night, a towering fly ball to the triangle area in right-center. The left-handed hitter was so sure it was gone he posed for a moment and admired the flight of his well-struck hit.
For just an instant, it looked like Abreu’s aim was going to cost him what would have been a home run in any other Major League park, according to Statcast. But then came the chaos that electrified Fenway Park, not to mention the home dugout.
Abreu’s 15th homer of the season was of the inside-the-park variety, and was the most memorable moment of the Red Sox's win over the Reds, 13-6, in the opener of a three-game series. In a night he will never forget, Abreu later added a grand slam to blow the game open. It was the first grand slam of his career.
He is the sixth player to hit an inside-the-park home run and a grand slam (separately) in a game, and the first since Roger Maris in 1958.
But the inside-the-parker is the one not likely to be forgotten by anyone who witnessed it.
The magnitude of the moment became evident by the way Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela was jumping up and down in the dugout. Trevor Story watched it from the on-deck circle and urged his teammate to turn the jets on.
“I knew he hit it to the deepest part, and I was kind of telling him, 'Hey, let's go! Let's go!' Because you never know what can happen out there in the [triangle],” said Story.
The drive that led off the bottom of the fifth inning landed just under the top of the railing at the side of Boston’s bullpen and took a strange bounce. While that was happening, Reds center fielder TJ Friedl slipped and fell.
“I lost it pretty much the whole time. So I was just running in the general direction of where I thought it was going,” Friedl said. “I knew it was hit well, so once it came back into the lights, I saw that it was either gonna hit off the wall or go into the bullpen or something.
“So I was just trying to try to pull up and play it off that little corner there, and just play goalie and try and ricochet where it was gonna go. And then my left foot just slipped out. And as soon as I tried to plant and stop to play it off of that corner, my left foot slipped out.”
At that point, Abreu picked up the crowd noise and put it into high gear.
As the ball bounced and bounced from right-center to left-center, right fielder Rece Hinds couldn’t get to it fast enough, allowing Abreu to roar all around the bases to get back the homer that he initially just missed. Shortstop Elly De La Cruz fielded a low relay throw but didn’t even bother throwing it in, knowing it was too late. With dramatic effect, Abreu went head-first into home as the crowd of 35,691 went into full eruption mode.
“When I hit the ball I thought it was a home run,” Abreu said. “When I saw it heading to the track, I thought the ball might not be gone so I started running hard and the ball didn’t go out and I was able to hit an inside-the-park homer.”
From the visitors' dugout, Reds manager Terry Francona was temporarily annoyed by the bad break -- and bounce -- that victimized his club. But as Boston’s manager from 2004-11, he was one of the least surprised people in the ballpark.
“I’ve actually almost seen that exact play out there where … yeah. That triangle … and TJ [Friedl] did everything he could,” Francona said. “I think he hit his hip against that [wall]. He did everything he could, and the ball was in no man's land.”
It was the first inside-the-parker for a Red Sox player since Eduardo Núnéz in Alex Cora’s first game as Boston’s manager on March 29, 2018, at Tropicana Field against the Rays. It was also the first inside-the-park homer for a Boston player at Fenway since Jacoby Ellsbury on Sept. 19, 2011, vs. the Orioles.
In an example of how much good fortune it takes to hit an inside-the-park homer, Story, widely considered the best athlete on the Red Sox, has never hit one.
“To me, it's one of the most exciting plays in the game,” Story said. “I'm jealous. I'm honestly jealous because I don't have one yet. Always rooting for it, always watching and seeing the possibility of it.”
All Abreu’s night needed was a grand finale. And in the eighth, facing Reds righty Connor Phillips, he deposited his slam into the Boston bullpen.
Which home run did he take more satisfaction from?
“Obviously the inside-the-parker, but you get tired from it,” Abreu said. “So for me if you hit the ball and just jog around the bases [for a homer], that’s better.”