ARLINGTON, Texas — Wilyer Abreu didn’t say much to teammates, coaches or Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora when he showed up to face the Texas Rangers the day after his grandmother died.
The 25-year-old outfielder couldn’t hide his emotions after the first of his two homers in a 7-2 victory over the Rangers on Sunday.
“It obviously was a difficult situation,” Abreu said through an interpreter after the first multihomer game of his career. “I was playing for her. I dedicated this game to her. I was playing with my heart in my hand. For me to be able to go out there and perform was very special.”
Following a tying solo shot in the fourth inning, Abreu wiped his face with a towel while looking at the dugout wall. A combination of teammates and coaches checked on him, and he said he was fine.
Abreu still had tears in his eyes when he returned to right field. And he hadn’t even hit the biggest of the two homers yet – a three-run shot that broke open the game in the sixth and helped the Red Sox win the series.
“Hats off to him,” Boston starter Nick Pivetta said. “He has a room full of his family in here as well, and we’re always going to be there for him. We got the best of him today, and it was incredible to watch. It was a special moment for baseball.”
The Red Sox knew Abreu’s grandmother was in failing health, and in the hospital, in his native Venezuela. They had been talking contingency plans for weeks.
Suddenly, Cora is managing the magnitude of the emotions, in the middle of a tight game, with the Rangers bringing left-hander Walter Pennington out of the bullpen for a lefty-lefty matchup with Abreu.
And Cora decided to leave him in the game.
“Sometimes, you make decisions in game by the metrics,” Cora said. “I let him hit because I was like, ‘Something good is going to happen here against the lefty.’ That’s life, right? We’re not perfect. We try to live the good life. I think the Lord rewarded him with that one.”
Abreu sent a 3-1 pitch 430 feet to right, about a dozen rows deep, and had a slightly better handle on the emotions the second time around.
“Grateful for the confidence that he had in me with that at-bat,” Abreu said. “With everything that happened, for him to have the confidence in me to be able to deliver.”
Cora said Abreu wasn’t planning to spend any time away from the team for now. Boston starts a three-game series in Kansas City on Monday night.
“I’m grateful for my teammates. I’m grateful for the support they’ve given me,” Abreu said. “We’re family, and they showed that today. They showed that I can rely on them, and I know that they can rely on me as well.”