The Boston Red Sox win their first home game of 2026 with a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Boston was able to snap their five-game losing streak with two key home runs in the sixth inning. With the game tied 2-2, Wilson Contreras recorded his first home run in a Red Sox uniform, and Marcelo Mayer followed with a two-run blast to give Boston a comfortable lead over San Diego.
In his first home start in Fenway Park, Sonny Gray faced off against Rhode Island native Michael King. Both righties cruised through the first two innings of the game, but the Red Sox were able to get on the board in the bottom of the third.
With the bottom of the order up to bat, Mayer recorded Boston’s first hit of the game with an opposite-field double off the Green Monster. Following the double, Ceddanne Rafaela drove home Mayer from second with an RBI base hit up the middle to make it 1-0 Red Sox.
One inning later, the Red Sox extended their lead receiving a clutch RBI base hit from a struggling a bat.. Jarren Duran started the inning with a leadoff double on a base hit down the first base line, but the Red Sox followed Duran’s double with back-to-back strikeouts against King. With two outs, Caleb Durbin, who entered the game 0/18, recorded his first hit in a Red Sox uniform with an RBI base hit in a 2-0 count to drive in Duran from second base.
The Red Sox were in command of the game after their successful fourth inning, but they faced troubles in the fifth inning, which resulted in the Padres tying the game. After a strikeout from Gray to start the inning, Miguel Andjuar hit a fly ball to center field. Rafaela struggled finding the ball in the sun, and it resulted in a stand up triple for Andujar.
One at-bat later, Gavin Sheets drove in Andujar for his second base hit of the game, and Luis Campusaro tied the game with a double to left field for his first hit of the season. In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Trevor Story grounded into inning-ending double play, and King only threw 12 pitches.
In his last inning on the mound, Gray produced a scoreless sixth inning with three consecutive ground ball outs, and the Red Sox picked up their starting pitcher by recording their best offensive inning of the game. Contreras gave Boston its lead back with a 423-foot home run to center field.
King ended his time on the mound giving up a hit to Wilyer Abreu and striking out Durbin, and the Padres brought in left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta to face the left-handed bat of Mayer with two outs.
And on the first pitch against Peralta, Mayer connected on a 95 MPH sinker for a two-run home run to extend Boston’s lead to three runs.
Following their momentum-changing sixth inning, the Red Sox brought in their bullpen to preserve the lead. Greg Weissert produced a 1-2-3 outing in the seventh inning, and Justin Slaten followed with another 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.
And in the ninth inning, Aroldis Chapman picked up his second save of the season to give the Red Sox the victory.
Many notable offseason acquisition stepped up to snap Boston’s five game losing streak. Durbin and Contreras provided key RBI’s in big moments, and Gray produced a rocksteady performance to pick up the victory. In his second start of the season, the 36-year-old veteran bounced back pitching 6.0 innings and limiting the Padres to just four hits and two earned runs.
The Red Sox totaled nine hits in the contest. Every batter in the starting lineup recorded a hit besides Trevor Story, and Mayer provided the most offense today with his two extra-base hits.
Boston will continue its series against the Padres tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. with Connelly Early on the mound.
WHO: Red Sox (1-4) vs Padres (2-4)
WHEN: 2:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston
SERIES TO DATE: (0-0), (0-0)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Sonny Gray (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP Michael King (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, MLB Network, WEEI-FM 93.7
Roman Anthony (L) DH
Trevor Story (R) SS
Jarren Duran (L) LF
Willson Contreras (R) 1B
Wilyer Abreu (L) RF
Caleb Durbin (R) 3B
Marcelo Mayer (L) 2B
Carlos Narváez (R) C
Ceddanne Rafaela (R) CF
Fernando Tatis Jr. (R) RF
Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
Jackson Merrill (L) CF
Manny Machado (R) 3B
Ramón Laureano (R) LF
Miguel Andujar (R) DH
Gavin Sheets (L) 1B
Jake Cronenworth (L) 2B
Luis Campusano (R) C
The Boston Red Sox look to snap a five game losing streak in their home opener against the San Diego Padres.
The Red Sox placed Johan Oviedo on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to March 31) with a right elbow strain and placed setup man Garrett Whitlock on the paternity list. Boston called up right-handers Zack Kelly and Tyler Uberstine from Triple-A Worcester. “We’ll see where we’re at, as far as comparing the MRIs to before,” said manager Alex Cora. “We just have to be patient with it and wait for that to happen.”
