BOSTON -- It didn’t matter where Ji Hwan Bae was on Tuesday night, he was contributing in big ways.

From second base to center field to the batter’s box, Bae’s big night helped the Pirates pick up their second straight win in Boston, 4-1, at Fenway Park.

“Offensively, defensively, on the bases, the plays he made defensively, the catch he made late was a great catch,” noted Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “Overall, really nice game.”

After sitting out the opener in Boston, Bae started at second base and hit eighth in the lineup. With the Pirates trailing, 1-0, after the first inning, he got his first at-bat in the top of the second with two outs and a runner on first base -- thanks to a heads-up play by Canaan Smith-Njigba, who extended the inning by beating out a third strike in the dirt.

On a 1-1 belt-high fastball from Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, Bae connected for his first big league home run, scraping the top of the Green Monster on the ledge just above the home run line and bouncing back into the playing field.

"When I saw the left fielder running towards it, I thought he was going to catch it,” said Bae through a translator. “But in my mind, I was hoping it was going to go over the wall."

“To get his first home run, oppo, at Fenway, that’s kind of a cool thing,” Shelton added. “It’s even cooler when the ball bounces back in play so you’re able to get it and he’s able to keep it.”

Starter Roansy Contreras was happy to have Bae behind him when the second baseman made a great play on a sharply hit ball by Rafael Devers in the sixth inning.

Then in the bottom of the eighth, Bae switched from second to center field in the midst of a few lineup changes that occurred in the top half of the inning.

“Not ever having played center field at Fenway, it’s not easy,” said Shelton. “We had talked about how well he moves out there. …We’ve talked a lot organizationally about how important it is for our collaboration and communication, and our guys felt strong about that. When our guys feel strong about something, it permeates up here.”

Unfortunately once again for Devers, he hit a screaming shot towards the left-center-field portion of the Green Monster that Bae somehow tracked down before making an outstanding leaping catch right up against the fabled green wall.

“It was incredible,” said Bryan Reynolds, who went 3-for-4 and hit his third home run in two games at Fenway. “I didn’t think he was going to catch it, so I was running to back up the bounce off the wall. Just saw him levitate up and snag it and suck it out of the wall. It was really impressive.”

"The Green Monster, it's a huge wall,” Bae said. “I saw it coming, but I just had to leave it to my instinct, and I caught it."

With regards to which play he thought was better, Bae took a few seconds before answering.

"Homer,” he beamed. “Because I don't hit too [many] homers."

As for the home run ball, it was sitting proudly in his locker following the game, though he intends to send it back home to his family in South Korea.