BOSTON — Alex Verdugo was mad. The outfielder admitted that he may have dealt with the information of his commerce to the Yankees significantly better this previous December, having expressed his disbelief shortly after studying that the Crimson Sox had despatched him to New York.
It was one factor to be dealt, however Verdugo couldn’t imagine Boston would deal him to a division rival — and a historic one, at that. However introductory cellphone calls with captain Aaron Choose, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and supervisor Aaron Boone quickly had Verdugo prepared for a recent begin.
So Verdugo shaved his beard and carried a brash, gritty persona to the Yankees, who had spoken privately over the previous a number of months about needing a participant with precisely these qualities. Verdugo extracted a measure of revenge on Friday, homering in a four-RBI efficiency because the Yankees defeated the Crimson Sox, 8-1, at Fenway Park.
“It was pure adrenaline, man. Simply fired up,” Verdugo mentioned. “To place it out of the ballpark and provides us an early lead was huge. I let slightly yell out round first, and once I noticed my dugout going loopy, all the blokes barking, I misplaced it once more.”
With the victory, the Yankees grew to become the Majors’ first staff to notch 50 wins this season. It’s the tenth time in franchise historical past that the Bombers have gained 50 of their first 72 video games; seven of the earlier 9 resulted in a World Sequence championship (most just lately in 1998).
“These guys have performed excellent baseball to begin the season, however we all know that’s all it’s,” Boone mentioned. “We’ve obtained a protracted, lengthy strategy to go.”
Verdugo mentioned he anticipated it will be “a bizarre day” going through the Crimson Sox in his new uniform, and that he anticipated to be greeted “like a Yankee” by followers who had as soon as cheered him. Jeered loudly in pregame introductions, Verdugo responded by belting a two-run shot on the primary pitch he noticed from Brayan Bello within the first inning.
“I wasn’t actually anticipating to swing first pitch,” Verdugo mentioned.
However he did. His ninth house run of the season cleared the center-field wall, a Statcast-calculated 406-foot drive that got here off his bat at 104 mph. Chains jangling, Verdugo pumped his fists and screamed as he rounded the bases, firing up his “dawgs” within the dugout, the phrase Verdugo coined throughout a season-opening collection in Houston.
“We had been all on him coming in, flying in, on the bus,” Rizzo mentioned. “He’s such a spark for us. It’s arduous to convey that sort of vitality daily. He does a very good job, and helps us do a very good job of that as effectively. So I’m positive it means much more to him, because it ought to, simply enjoying someplace for that lengthy.”
Verdugo performed 4 seasons in Boston after arriving within the Mookie Betts commerce with the Dodgers. He had emerged as a change-of-scenery candidate after a pair of public run-ins with Boston supervisor Alex Cora, as soon as for a perceived lack of hustle and as soon as for reporting late to Fenway for a Crimson Sox house sport.
Boston acquired three right-handed pitchers in trade for Verdugo: Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice.
“Dugie is an effective child,” Cora mentioned earlier than Friday’s sport. “I believe individuals are making an excessive amount of about it, to be sincere with you. He is a very good participant. He obtained traded, we obtained three good pitchers, that is the enterprise of it.”
Although Boone couldn’t recall the primary time he’d lobbied to suit Verdugo in pinstripes, the supervisor mentioned that he introduced up Verdugo’s identify a number of occasions with basic supervisor Brian Cashman. So did Choose and Rizzo; this spring, Choose mentioned that he had been “preaching for years that we’ve obtained to get that man.”
“He likes the motion,” Boone mentioned. “He’s a gamer. That’s what I’ve admired about him from the opposite facet the previous few years, and that’s what he’s introduced over right here.”
Verdugo banged a run-scoring double off the left-field wall within the fifth, serving to to help starter Luis Gil, who navigated 5 innings of one-run ball with out his traditional command. Gil tossed a career-high 104 pitches.
“There was a whole lot of adrenaline tonight,” Gil mentioned by way of an interpreter. “Ever since I used to be slightly child, I’ve been watching Yankees-Crimson Sox.”
Jose Trevino hit a ninth-inning homer for the Yankees, a body that additionally featured Choose’s run-scoring double and Verdugo’s fourth RBI of the night time, a clear single to proper area.
“There’s no secret that this was an enormous collection for me,” Verdugo mentioned. “I’ve simply obtained to maintain going day-to-day. We’ve obtained to go on the market and do it once more tomorrow.”
