HOUSTON — Not long after arriving in Houston from San Diego late Sunday, Alex Bregman treated himself to Whataburger, an old fast-food favorite that’s open 24 hours. No. 2 likes the No. 3 — triple meat — sans tomato.
The former Astro continued to make himself at home on Monday night, homering in his first Daikin Park at-bat as a visiting player. Bregman’s two-run homer off Cristian Javier gave the Red Sox a quick lead in the first inning, but Boston couldn’t cook up quite enough scoring in a 7-6 series-opening loss.
“Every time you hit a homer in the big leagues, it’s pretty special. But to be able to do it first at-bat back here was a pretty cool moment I’ll never forget,” said Bregman, who also singled during a 2-for-4 night.
Eighteen minutes before first pitch, the Astros treated Bregman to a video montage spanning his career in Houston. When the tribute was over, he emerged from the Boston dugout to raucous cheers.
“Really cool. Great moment,” Bregman said. “Just tried to soak it all in. AC [manager Alex Cora] told me to enjoy it, and I really tried to.”
By Bregman’s second at-bat, the same fans who’d been cheering were booing. Though appreciative of his first 106 regular-season home runs in this park, they weren’t crazy about his first-inning blast to the Crawford Boxes in left field.
“I loved it,” Bregman said of the booing, which he knew was good-natured. “I was hoping they would.”
The evening didn’t go so well for Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet, who had gone 9-0 with a 2.45 ERA over his previous 11 starts. The left-hander suffered his first loss since May 26, allowing five earned runs in four innings, his shortest outing of the season. It was the third time Crochet yielded five runs this season, but he went six innings in those starts against the Yankees (June 7) and Reds (June 30), winning both.
“Obviously, my worst [start] since I’ve worn the Red Sox uniform, so it’s tough,” Crochet said. “Just had trouble putting guys away or getting them to put the ball in play early in the count.”
All looked good early for Crochet, who struck out four in two scoreless innings before he ran into trouble in the third. With one out, Cam Smith doubled and Jeremy Peña singled to put runners on the corners. Carlos Correa, making a return of his own in his first home game as an Astro since 2021, made it 2-1 with a single. One out later, Christian Walker delivered a two-run double that put Houston up for good.
Crochet, whose 86 pitches included 61 strikes, also surrendered Chas McCormick’s two-run homer in the fourth. Crochet’s four-seam fastball and cutter were a tick above their average velocity this season, but he induced no swing-and-miss on either pitch. Crochet’s 12 whiffs came on cutters and sweepers.
“First time through the order,” he said, “I felt like I was in control; second time through the order, they made really good adjustments. Without divulging too much, the obvious thing was I spun ‘em a lot the first time through the order. Typically, I save that for a second time through. But it was working pretty well, and second time through the order, I went with my typical approach, which is spin, but I’d already done it so much throughout the game that they were able to just be a little bit closer to pitches.
“And they weren’t exactly hammering all of them, but it was just foul balls that ultimately forced me to come back in the zone.”
The Red Sox made a game of it in the seventh, when four consecutive extra-base hits with two outs — capped by Roman Anthony’s two-run homer — made it 7-6. Bregman was on deck in the ninth when Anthony struck out to end the game after Connor Wong’s two-out double.
“Just praying for that at-bat,” Bregman said.
Bregman had to settle for the first-inning homer, which put him in limited company. Per Elias Sports Bureau, Bregman became the fourth visiting player since 2000 to homer in his first plate appearance at a venue where he’d played at least 554 home games (Bregman’s total in Houston). Frank Thomas (2006 Athletics at Chicago vs. the White Sox), Vernon Wells (2011 Angels at Toronto) and Brian Roberts (2014 Yankees at Baltimore) were the others.
Bregman acknowledged his home run was even better than the No. 3 at Whataburger, which has stores in 16 states but none anywhere near Boston.
“Yes, way better,” he said. “But Whataburger’s pretty good.”
