BALTIMORE — Adley Rutschman returned to Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Thursday, exactly one month after the Baltimore Orioles traded him to the Boston Red Sox, and promptly homered to right on the third pitch he saw. Five innings later, he homered again.It was a triumphant return for the former Baltimore catcher, but his homers proved crucial for his new team in a 6-5 win for the Red Sox, who’d lost four of five games entering the day.Rutschman came to the plate in the first inning to a rousing standing ovation from the Orioles crowd. He stepped out of the box, took off his helmet and waved to the crowd in appreciation.On a 1-1 pitch from Orioles starter Brandon Young, Rutschman smashed a hanging curveball to right for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.“It was special,” Rutschman said. “Just to feel that love was really cool, (an) emotional moment and really special. Just a really, really special moment.”
Adley Rutschman received a standing ovation from the fans in Baltimore in his first game back since being traded
He responded by belting a home run to open the scoring for the Red Sox! pic.twitter.com/dAxzRTI6oz
— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2026Rutschman homered again on a first-pitch sinker from Young in the sixth, giving him the only two hits the Red Sox had through the first six innings off Young. It also marked Rutschman’s second multi-homer game of the season. The last came on April 24 at Camden Yards – against the Red Sox.According to Elias Sports, Rutschman became just the second player since at least 1900 to change teams and homer multiple times in his first career game against his former team in the same season. Willis Otáñez, playing for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Orioles, was the only other player to do so.The Orioles showed a video tribute for him after the first inning. He came to the top step of the dugout to watch and waved to the fans again after another loud standing ovation.“That’s a heck of a way to make a return,” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “That was awesome. I thought it was really cool, the video they did for him. First-class of them to step out and let him be acknowledged and the ovation was awesome. And obviously, he had a big night.”For Rutschman, it marked his first game back in Boston’s lineup after missing three straight games with a hyperextended elbow.The 28-year-old, drafted by the Orioles as the top overall pick in the 2019 draft, spent the first four-plus seasons of his big-league career in Baltimore, hitting .254 with a .756 OPS and 69 homers in 572 games before the trade.In many ways, he was the face of what was supposed to be the Orioles’ turnaround. It never transpired, resulting in his trade to the Red Sox on Aug. 3.Rutschman said some of his former Orioles teammates chirped at him throughout the game and gave him a hard time about getting around the ballpark as a visiting player.“You’ve walked down the tunnel so many times taking an early right turn, so definitely a little different (heading the other way),” he said. “Some of the guys were giving me a little bit of crap, saying, ‘Make sure you don’t take a right turn in the dugout after you ground out or something.’”Rutschman was on the injury list with wrist inflammation when the Red Sox acquired him, and made his Boston debut eight days later after an abbreviated two-game rehab stint. The transition to a new team and the short rehab stint have left him still searching for his rhythm in Boston.Entering Thursday, he was hitting .170 (9-for-53) with two extra-base hits for the Red Sox. Despite the ovation and the videos, the homers helped put his new team back on a winning track.“(The emotions) started crawling in a little bit, but you’ve got a baseball game to win,” he said. “Like I said, (the Orioles) did a great job. It was really special, and we got a really great win today.”Rutschman’s second homer pulled the Red Sox within 3-2 in the sixth, and an inning later Isiah Kiner-Falefa tied it on an RBI single, scoring Eli White who’d doubled with two outs. White started in center, just his seventh start since arriving at the trade deadline, as Ceddanne Rafaela deals with right quad soreness. Rafaela said after the game he hopes to return soon and didn’t think he’d require an injured-list stint.In the eighth, Nick Sogard, who hit his first three homers of his big-league career last month, hit a clutch two-run homer off the Orioles’ Yennier Cano to give the Red Sox the 5-3 lead. Cano had gone 48 straight appearances without allowing a home run.Sogard said Rutschman helped with his game plan against Cano.“I kind of had my idea of what I wanted to do and then I went over to him and I was like, ‘Hey, this is what I’m thinking, what do you got on that?” Sogard said. “He liked it, so it worked out good.”Roman Anthony hit his second opposite-field homer in as many days in the ninth inning. That proved crucial when Aroldis Chapman gave up a two-run homer in the ninth inning to bring the Orioles within one run before Chapman closed it out.Starter Jake Bennett pitched six innings in the Baltimore humidity, soaked through his jersey and red in the face from the first inning onward. Still, he pounded the zone, allowing three runs (including two solo homers) on five hits, striking out seven and not issuing a walk on an economical 68 pitches, 52 for strikes.His start snapped a streak of four straight Red Sox starters who’d allowed four or more runs. Boston’s pitching staff as a whole snapped an ignominious streak. The team had allowed eight or more runs in five straight games, something they hadn’t done since the awful 2020 season.The Red Sox entered the series just 7-6 in their past 13 games and had lost four of their past five. While they have a comfortable 5 1/2-game lead for the second wild-card spot, they can’t afford to get too comfortable. A win against a surging Baltimore club started this series on a strong note.
