Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer both homered in the sixth inning, propelling the Boston Red Sox to a 5-2, home-opening win over the San Diego Padres on Friday afternoon.
Mayer highlighted his 2-for-2 day with a two-out, two-run homer to cap Boston’s three-run frame. He also hit a leadoff double and scored the opening run in the third.
Boston banged out nine hits and received a solid six-inning start from Sonny Gray (1-0) en route to breaking a five-game losing skid.
Gray allowed just two runs on four hits while striking out three in his first home start at Fenway Park. Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman each pitched scoreless innings in relief, with the latter passing Jonathan Papelbon for 11th on MLB’s all-time saves list (369).
Gavin Sheets went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored for San Diego.
Boston College grad Michael King (0-1) allowed four runs in a 5 2/3-inning start.
The Red Sox scored in back-to-back innings to break the game’s scoreless deadlock, taking the initial lead when Ceddanne Rafaela lined a one-out single into center in the third. Mayer set the table with a wall-ball double to start the inning.
Two-out offense in Boston’s fourth made it a 2-0 game. After Jarren Duran shot a leadoff double past a diving first baseman Sheets, back-to-back strikeouts had King on the verge of ending the inning, but Caleb Durbin broke his 0-for-19 start with an RBI single up the middle.
Gray allowed just a single baserunner through his first 4 1/3 innings, but the visitors quickly tied the game on three hits in the fifth.
Miguel Andujar cranked a leadoff triple over Rafaela in deep center to begin the fifth, and Sheets halved the San Diego deficit thanks to his RBI knock to right. Two batters later, Luis Campusano hit a game-tying RBI single off the Green Monster.
After Gray completed his sixth and final inning, Boston jumped back in front, ended King’s day and greeted the bullpen rudely in a three-run bottom of the frame. Contreras cleared the center field wall for his first solo shot as a Red Sox, flipping the score at 3-2.
Wilyer Abreu followed with a base hit, and after King followed with his fifth strikeout to end his start, Wandy Peralta served up a two-run homer to Mayer that landed in the right-center field bullpen — but not without a leaping effort from right fielder Fernando Tatis at the wall.
