Boston — Mookie Betts' name will always be attached to Alex Verdugo as long as he's in Boston. That's just the nature of the beast when you're the return in the trade of your new franchise's homegrown superstar, and you play the same position as him.

Verdugo understands that, but just two weeks into his Red Sox career, he's working on trying to make that a footnote.

Two nights after hitting his first home run in a Boston uniform, Verdugo had the best night of his young Red Sox career in Friday night's 5-3 win over the Blue Jays, going 2-for-3 with two home runs in addition to robbing a homer in right. And, seemingly inevitably, as Betts was hitting a home run for the Dodgers across the country, the comparisons came afterward.

As he was asked about being Betts' replacement, and how it doesn't seem to affect him, Verdugo seemed ready for it, shaking his head and giving a strong answer that he almost seemed to have rehearsed.

"Because I'm not replacing him," Verdugo said. "Yeah, he played here but this is a game. This is a business. He decided to go elsewhere. I'm not replacing him. That's what you guys say, that's what everybody else says. I'm going out there and playing right field, I'm playing my game, I don't think about Mookie. I think he's a great player, he did a lot for Boston, he's going to do a lot for the Dodgers. I think about me being here and what I'm going to do and what I'm going to bring to this team.

"It's not a comparable thing. I don't like comparing it. I don't like when people bring it up. but obviously the nature of the trade, it's going to happen. People are going to say it. I'm going to play my game, I'm going to go out there and compete and bring the energy that I bring. That's how I've always been and I don't care about shoes to fill, anything like that. I'm playing my game."

This week, at least, he's doing a good job of that. Two weeks after he recorded three hits in his Red Sox debut, Verdugo took it to another level Friday.

The highlight of the night came in the ninth inning. Verdugo had just hit a solo homer off the National Car Rental sign above the Green Monster to give the Red Sox much-needed insurance when Brandon Workman served up a pitch that Travis Shaw crushed to right field.

The ball was carrying and headed toward the bullpen, but with how deep right in Fenway is, Verdugo had room to make a play, and he reached back over the wall to snatch it. He immediately let out a scream that reverberated throughout the empty ballpark.

"I think today was a little bit more hyped up because it was robbing a homer," Verdugo said. "When you make a diving play, all that, you just do the typical tip your cap at some of the players and say, I got you. But yeah, taking a home run back, that's one of the most exciting plays in baseball, and after just hitting one, I was on cloud nine. I was letting it out."

Verdugo's joy playing the game has been apparent in his first two weeks with the Red Sox and the emotion was certainly on display Friday. He was visibly excited after hitting his first homer of the game, his first at Fenway, and his teammates seem to be having fun playing with him, too.

"He's definitely one of those guys who wears his emotions on his sleeves, so him bouncing all over the place, obviously robbing that homer there at the end was awesome," said Mitch Moreland. "He was fired up. We were all fired up. That was a great play."

It's hard not to be excited about Verdugo's future after his breakout night. What's next? He could soon occupy the Red Sox' leadoff spot in the lineup -- something manager Ron Roenicke teased Friday as Andrew Benintendi's struggles continued.

If he does, those comparisons to Betts, who excelled atop the Red Sox' lineup, will only continue. But as he knows, he doesn't have to be Betts. The Red Sox certainly love who he uniquely is.

"He gets you pretty excited, doesn't he? It's so nice to see," Roenicke said. "And just to watch the emotion is pretty fun. We worry about creating energy, he created it. ...

"You come to a different organization, you want to impress them right away. Sometimes it happens but in most cases it usually doesn't. You have a night like tonight, you can see it. You can see how excited the guys were for him. Hopefully we just continue. You don't know who you're going to feed off of. You can feed off of anybody. Maybe this sparks the whole team and we get it going."