After Raffy crushes first '25 HR, Red Sox walk it off

BOSTON -- Rafael Devers looks primed to turn his historically rough start to the season into a forgotten footnote.

The star slugger unloaded for his first homer of 2025, an opposite-field homer that went into the Green Monster seats and gave the Red Sox a lead in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 1 of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader against the Cardinals.

Though the Cardinals stormed back and took the lead with two runs in the eighth, the Sox rallied furiously against Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley in the bottom of the ninth, tying it on a bases-loaded walk by Devers that forced the game into extras.

Wilyer Abreu won it for the Red Sox with his first career walk-off hit, a single off the Green Monster with one out in the 10th to lead his team to a 5-4 victory.

Abreu was a late-game substitute and didn’t start due to “heavy legs,” according to Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

The right fielder, off to a sizzling start this season, was feeling lighter on his feet when he got mobbed by his teammates after his clutch knock.

“I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Abreu said. “I was trying to focus on getting a good pitch so I could bring the run in and try to win the game.”

As for the heavy legs?

“The idea is to stay healthy the whole season,” Abreu said. “So I felt my legs were a little bit tired, so it was the best decision for me to not start the first game. But besides that, I feel very good.”

It was Devers who got the Fenway crowd going with his home run. He worked the count full and smashed a 93.2 mph fastball from Andre Pallante at an exit velocity of 107.4 mph and a projected distance of 393 feet, per Statcast.

“We’re getting there,” said Cora. “The at-bats are really good. They’ve been really good for a while now. He hasn’t been swinging and missing, he’s not chasing, and he’s staying in the zone. Little by little, the swing is back to normal. That was impressive.”

Entering his first season as a designated hitter following the offseason acquisition of third baseman Alex Bregman, Devers was completely out of whack when the season started.

Through the first five games, he went 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts, the record for the most K’s by a player in the first five games of a season.

In his sixth game, Devers ended his 0-for with an RBI double and a single. His home run on Sunday extended his hitting streak to four games.

Career homer No. 201 for Devers snapped a drought of 110 plate appearances without a long ball, dating back to Aug. 25, 2024.

“We enjoyed it a lot,” said Abreu. “We know that he started the year slow, but we know that he's going to have a monster year, as he always does. So we were very happy for him that he got the first one today.”

But it was Abreu who came up with the hit that mattered the most.

The left-handed hitter is 12-for-23 (.522) on the season with two doubles, three homers, nine RBIs and eight walks.

“He worked hard in the offseason on his swing and his body,” said Cora. “Right now, his start is amazing.”