Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo put his team on the board early in his return to Fenway Park.

Facing former teammate Bryan Bello, Verdugo hit a first-pitch sinker into Fenway’s legendary deep center field. Oddly enough, Statcast only measured it at 406 feet with exit velocity at 97.6 mph.

The Yankees took a quick 2-0 lead.

Verdugo celebrated as one would expect, especially after Red Sox Nation greeted him with boos. Not exactly a fair greeting since the man was sent to New York in a trade for a trio of minor leaguers.

The Yankees lead Boston 2-0 after one inning of play.

Josh Benjamin has been a staff writer at ESNY since 2018. He has had opinions about everything, especially the Yankees and Knicks. He co-hosts the “Bleacher Creatures” podcast and is always looking for new pieces of sports history to uncover, usually with a Yankee Tavern chicken parm sub in hand.