BOSTON — Alex Verdugo correctly predicted that he’d be greeted “like a Yankee” when he stepped to the plate as a visitor at Fenway Park on Friday night for the first time since the Red Sox traded him to the Yankees. And as the boos were raining down on him from a packed crowd, Verdugo answered in a hurry.
Verdugo hit a missile on the first pitch he saw from Brayan Bello into the center field bleachers for a two-run homer, then celebrated demonstratively as he rounded the bases in the top of the first inning. The outfielder, who hit cleanup for the Yankees in the first meeting between the rivals this season, took a 97.6 mph Bello sinker and hit it 406 feet with an exit velocity of 104 mph.
The always-energetic Verdugo pounded his chest and yelled at both the stands and Yankees dugout as he made the trek around the bases. It marked a dramatic return to Boston for the 28-year-old, who was traded to New York for three pitchers (Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice) in December.
Speaking to MassLive last weekend in New York, Verdugo acknowledged that the first series back in Boston had been circled on his calendar for a while.
“Part of me, I’m excited,” Verdugo said during a conversation at Yankee Stadium. “That’s my favorite ballpark and still is, to this day. I love the atmosphere, I love the layout of it. I’ve got a lot of friends over there on that team, too. To be able to see them is going to be refreshing and nice to see them again. But I’m also excited to play. I know when the game’s on, it’s gonna be competing like no other. I remember it from that side, being with the Red Sox. I expect it to be the same way.
“I’m curious to see how the fans take it, how the first greeting is, I guess,” he added. “I’m open to whatever they do … It is gonna be a very personal series, just because I was with them for the last four years. But I’m excited about it.”
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