This Play ‘Meant A Lot’ To Marcelo Mayer In Red Sox Debut
Nick Sogard lived up to his promise to Mayer
It didn’t take very long for the baseball to find Marcelo Mayer in his Major League Baseball debut Saturday night at Fenway Park.
Orioles second baseman Ramón Urías led off the second inning and laced a sharply hit ground ball to third on the fifth pitch he saw from Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito. Mayer fielded the ball cleanly and looked smooth as could be as he gathered to throw, but his toss across the diamond did not reach Nick Sogard in the air. Fortunately for the 22-year-old, Boston’s first baseman picked it out of the dirt and sealed the first put-out of Mayer’s career.
After Boston’s 2-1 loss, NESN’s Tom Caron asked Mayer what it meant to receive a lift from Sogard on the first defensive play of his big league career. As it turns out, the pair of Red Sox infielders essentially spoke it into existence.
“It meant a lot,” Mayer told reporters, as seen on NESN. “We were actually talking about it pregame — about this pick he missed in Monterrey. He was like, ‘I got you today.’ First play, I throw a pick and he picked it. So, it was pretty funny.”
Mayer will work with a new first baseman Sunday when he makes his second start in a Boston uniform. Abraham Toro will take over for Sogard when the Red Sox wrap up their four-game set with the O’s.
