Red Sox embrace Vázquez in return to Fenway 

BOSTON -- Eight seasons ago, Christian Vázquez squatted behind home plate at Fenway Park for the first time in a Major League game against the White Sox. Not long after, he stepped in front of the plate to take his first career at-bat.

Fifteen years ago, Vázquez was drafted by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the MLB Draft.

On Tuesday, Vázquez stepped into Fenway Park for the first time as a visiting player and it was, as he put it, “Weird.”

Just before the top of the second inning, the Red Sox productions crew played a video montage of Vázquez’s most memorable moments with Boston. At the end of it, the caption on the scoreboard said, “The Red Sox welcome back World Series champion Christian Vázquez.”

The crowd responded with a loud ovation. Vázquez, in the on-deck circle at the time, doffed his helmet to the crowd several times.

The emotions started swirling for the Twins' starting catcher in the hours leading up to the game. There are obligatory reunions when a player faces a former team for the first time. And then there are situations like this, which are more like family reunions.

“I came with Kiké [Hernández],” Vázquez said. “He picked me up at the hotel, and I came to the [visiting player] entrance, and it was weird to enter there. Weird.”

Hernández and Vázquez were not only teammates with the Red Sox, but they played together in Little League.

Then, you have the Alex Cora-Vázquez dynamic.

Cora’s partner Angelica Feliciano and Vázquez’s wife Gabby are so close that Gabby and her two sons stayed at Cora's residence in Boston for a few days before the Twins arrived in town.

Cora and Vázquez have always been close, but Vázquez was reluctant to share that in front of his Boston teammates. Now that there's professional separation, the two are closer than ever, Cora said.

“It’s my family,” Vázquez said of the Red Sox. "It means a lot. This team saw me grow, and there are a lot of good memories.”

For Vázquez, the best memory will always be when he caught that final filthy slider from Chris Sale that buckled Manny Machado’s knees and ended the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Vázquez faced Sale in his return to Boston on Tuesday night.

“We won a World Series here,” Vázquez said. “That means everything. Winning is better than losing. I think that’s the memory I’m going to keep with me.”

And during that brief cameo with the Astros after the Red Sox traded him there last August, Vázquez won it all again, catching a combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the World Series in the process.

To say he’s landed on his feet would be an understatement for a player who signed a three-year, $30-million deal with the Twins in December.

Though there was some speculation Vázquez would return to the Red Sox as a free agent over the winter, he never bought into it.

“I was ready to test free agency. I love everybody over there, but I was ready. After the trade, I felt like I was the only guy that got traded. It was like, ‘Why did you trade me? Why?’ It is what it is, it’s a business,” Vázquez said. “Now we’re here. A new chapter in my career. I’m very happy and my family is very happy here. I like the city. The front office is great. Good players. Good teams. We’re winning, and we’re playing good baseball.”