Alex Verdugo probably couldn't have picked a better game to be playing in front of his friends and family at Fenway Park.
For starters, Saturday was his 25th birthday, so an obvious occasion to make the trip out to Boston. It could have gone either way, though, as the center fielder was amid an 0-for-14 hitting hiatus entering the game, not to mention some back tightness he'd dealt with near the stretch.
But Verdugo performed well in front of his loved ones, who were making the trip to Fenway for the first time. He went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in a 9-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. And it was his solo shot in the first inning that got Boston going.
"It's amazing you know," Verdugo said on a postgame video conference. "The last thing we want to do is lose, especially on my birthday. Just want to kind of celebrate it even more so the fact that we win, it's already a positive thing. That's the biggest thing is just to win, and you know, for me personally, in that first at bat, going through a little skid and to have a good at bat, get a pitch out over and drive it like that in front of my family that's here and some friends, it was a very special moment for me. Very special."
In what manager Alex Cora called the Red Sox's best game of the season, Verdugo's family was sprinkled through the park. Some back behind home plate, or on the Green Monster with signs to cheer him on.
"So if I hit the home run and I was pointing everywhere, that's why," Verdugo explained. "I was trying to make sure I got my mom, my dad, my best friend and then also my best friend and his family in left (field)."
Verdugo certainly will remember this moment in his career for a very long time, intensified by a bit of a mentality adjustment in his approach at the plate.
He described a feeling that he was chasing results, and rather than seeing pitches, trying to "force something to happen instead of letting it happen organically."
The rut frustrated him, and he doesn't always hide that emotion, but credited coaches and teammates for their affirmations and help working through it.
Based on his performance, Red Sox manager Alex Cora is giving him the day off Sunday.
"Alex is a good hitter, it was just a matter of time," Cora said after the game. "He's been grinding for a week, since Enrique (Hernández) got hurt, and I told him a few days ago, I said, 'You play until Saturday, you're getting Sunday off, so go off on Saturday.'"
