Wilyer Abreu Seals Red Sox’s First Walk-Off Victory Of 2025 Vs. Cardinals

The Boston Red Sox kicked off their day-night doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals with a thrilling finish to Sunday afternoon’s contest.

Boston entered the ninth inning trailing St. Louis, 4-2, as two-time All-Star reliever Ryan Helsley took the mound — and melted. Helsley couldn’t find the strike zone if a GPS directed the right-hander to home plate, and the Red Sox capitalized as they drew four walks and forced Helsley to throw 37 pitches and blow the save. And although Boston couldn’t finish the job in the bottom half of the ninth inning, Wilyer Abreu was prepared to answer the call in extra innings.

Abreu pinch-hit for Rob Refsnyder in the bottom of the ninth and came back up in the 10th with the winning run at second base. The 25-year-old continued his scorching hot streak with a single off the Green Monster. Fenway Park immediately erupted as Alex Bregman rounded third, stepped foot on home and secured Boston’s 5-4 walk-off win — it’s first of 2025 in that fashion.

It was also Abreu’s first career walk-off base knock, which helped the team improve to 5-4.

“Obviously, it’s huge for us to be able to start the homestand like this with two big wins,” Abreu said through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez, per NESN. “Obviously we need to do that the whole year, trying to win as many games as we can here at home because we have the support of the fans and we’re happy to play here.”

Abreu continued: “Hopefully it’s the first of many (walk-off hits).”

The ongoing hitting tear Abreu’s been on since Opening Day has made him among the most lethal hitters in all of baseball. Abreu now leads the American League in batting average (.522), on-base percentage (.645) and OPS (1.645).

Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t insert Abreu into the initial starting lineup, but with the chance to position the team for a three-game sweep, an exception was made. Cora did clarify that Abreu would return to the lineup for Sunday night’s Game 2.

“I feel good right now,” Abreu said. “Obviously at the beginning of the day, I wasn’t feeling great, so that’s why I got the game off for the first one. But as the day was going on, I was feeling better and I was telling Alex to give me that at-bat.”

Boston can win its fifth consecutive game with a victory in Sunday night’s series finale.