Red Sox prospect Marcelo Mayer gets a ride to Fenway Park for his big league debut

BOSTON (AP) — Marcelo Mayer, Boston’s No. 2 overall prospect, was promoted to the Red Sox and needed to get a ride to Fenway Park to start against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night for his major league debut.

The reason he didn’t drive himself: He lost his car keys “like three weeks ago.”

Mayer was promoted from Triple-A Worcester when third baseman Alex Bregman was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right quad strain.

Mayer said a “clubby” drove him to Boston while he was answering text messages for the approximately 45-minute commute.

Mayer played third base, batted sixth and went 0 for 4 in Boston’s 2-1 loss in the nightcap of a split doubleheader.

When he came to the plate for his first at-bat, he was greeted with a loud ovation with many fans standing.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before in my life. I actually just got done texting my friends and parents about that moment. That’s something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”

He felt he may have been too anxious, at times, at the plate.

“I felt like I tried to do too much with runners on base,” he said. “I feel like next time I’ve got to do a better job than that.”

Drafted No. 4 overall in 2021, the 22-year-old Mayer made it to Fenway after the Red Sox beat Baltimore, 6-5, in the opener of the split doubleheader.

“It feels good. It’s something I worked for my whole life,” Mayer said, standing in the middle of the clubhouse before the second game.

“He brought me in (the office) in the morning and told me I was scratched in the first game,” Mayer said of what Worcester manager Chad Tracy told him. “Just to see what was going on (in Boston), then he brought me in a little later and said something of the lines of: ’You’ll play the second game but not here, you’re playing in Fenway.’”

He then spent the time answering messages during his ride to Boston and didn’t see the traffic.

“I used it as a reason to kind of chill and answer all my family and all my friends,” he said, before saying the first one he told was his dad.

“It was surreal,” he said. “The emotions were still pretty high. It’s something that me and my family have worked toward since I ever started playing the game. It was a moment I definitely wanted to share with them before I got out to the media.”

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FILE - Boston Red Sox first round draft pick Marcelo Mayer watches batting practice for the MLB All-Star baseball game, Monday, July 12, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski,File)

Boston Red Sox third baseman Marcelo Mayer reacts after being called out on strikes in his first major league at bat during the second inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, May 24, 2025, at Fenway Park in Boston. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Boston Red Sox third baseman Marcelo Mayer smiles after getting his first out of his career after fielding a ground ball by Baltimore Orioles Ramon Urias in the second inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader, Saturday, May 24, 2025, at Fenway Park in Boston. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Boston Red Sox third baseman Marcelo Mayer stands in the field before the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, May 24, 2025, at Fenway Park in Boston. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

FILE - This is a 2025 photo of Marcelo Mayer of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert,File)

Boston Red Sox third baseman Marcelo Mayer tosses a ball as he warms up before the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, May 24, 2025, at Fenway Park in Boston. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Trump left his Palm Beach, Florida, club, Mar-a-Lago, around 6:20 p.m. for the roughly 10-minute drive to the airport, but took a circular route around the city to get there.

During the drive, police officers on motorcycles created a moving blockade for the motorcade, at one point almost colliding with the vans that accompanied Trump.

Air Force One was parked on the opposite side of the airport from where it is usually located and the lights outside the plane were turned off.

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

President Donald Trump departs Trump International Golf Club in the presidential limousine, known as The Beast, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)