A Red Sox reminder: All eyes are on Alex Verdugo

This was always going to be Alex Verdugo's lot in life.

Every time he stepped to the plate for his first months in a Red Sox uniform fans were going to have one eye toward the outfielder another directed at whatever Mookie Betts' most recent stat line might be. Nobody said it was fair, but this is simply Verdugo's reality for now.

He was the centerpiece of the trade that sent the Sox' greatest hope for short-term success to Los Angeles.

Fortunately for Verdugo and the Red Sox, Wednesday night represented the most positive impression to date.

For the first time with his new team, the lefty hitter cleared the fences with a home run, going deep over the Tropicana Field right-field fence to springboard the Red Sox to their 5-0 win over Tampa Bay. (For a complete box score, click here.)

D U G I EINGER pic.twitter.com/kMrdQoZYfy

"He was pretty happy, I'll tell you that," said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. "And it was huge, at the time it was huge. I thought (Tampa Bay starter Ryan) Yarbrough was throwing the ball fantastic, and the next thing you know, we have two runs on the board. The players know it. They feel what's going on and to get that lead, I'm sure he felt pretty good about that."

Up until that moment, it had been tough to know what to make of Verdugo.

Earlier in the game, NESN analysts Jerry Remy and Dennis Eckersley nailed the narrative when wondering why the lefty hitter hadn't really put hardly any balls in the air. Up until Wednesday night Verdugo hadn't "barrelled" any of the 145 pitches he had seen. Not one. According to Statcast, 67 percent of his hits had been "topped" with Verdugo getting "under" just 4.8 percent of them. He had hit just ONE fly ball all year.

He also clearly was cheating on above-average fastballs, putting just one of the 19 95 mph-or-better fastballs in play.

It all painted a picture that maybe wasn't on the front-burner for most, but was about to gain steam if something didn't change.

Alex Verdugo hit a home run last night. So there you go ... pic.twitter.com/6OWFiQtQK5

This wasn't the be-all, end-all, but that one blast off Yarborough -- a lefty -- was certainly a step in the right direction.

There were certainly others to highlight in the Red Sox' big night at The Trop. Martin Perez bobbed and weaved his way through five shutout innings. And Michael Chavis broke out with a three-hit night that also included a home run. But it is Verdugo whose presence, for the time being, means the most.

With Andrew Benintendi mired in a 2-for-29 start, with Jackie Bradley Jr. also struggling to find his way offensively, Verdugo's existence represents a big swing when trying to decide upon the Red Sox' foundation for the future. Kevin Pillar is a short-timer and Jarren Duran is the ultimate unknown.

The guy who came over for Mookie Betts doesn't have to be Mookie Betts, but he has to be good. Wednesday night he was.

"It felt amazing," Verdugo said."I think it's pretty obvious I think a lot of us are kind of going through it right now, are trying to find our swings and there's a lot of new things in baseball with not able to see the videos until after the game and all that so usually the in-game adjustments have been hard. But yeah, it felt really good to finally be able to stay on one, to stay through it and to get one out."