Wilyer Abreu put four home runs into the Fenway crowd in under 24 hours. Two came Friday night against Tampa Bay in a tight win. Two more followed on Saturday.
Back-to-back multi-homer games are rare in any park. Inside this one, it has now happened twice in the entire history of the franchise. George Scott did it in 1971. Abreu did it this weekend.
Widen the frame to all ballparks and the last Red Sox player to manage it was Mookie Betts, across May 31 and June 1 of 2016.
Saturday had a particular shape to it. Abreu’s first homer handed Boston an early lead. The lead disappeared. His second, in the seventh, handed it back.
“Just stayed humble, tried to find a good pitch to hit,” the right fielder said afterward, adding that he had been working on not chasing. He also said the way the club has played over the past month has turned Fenway into somewhere he wants to be.
Ceddanne Rafaela’s reaction in the dugout suggested Abreu was not the only one who understood what he had just watched.
The win nudged Boston over .500 for the first time since the club began climbing out of the American League basement. Sunday brought a chance at 13 straight.
