Rafael Devers is on fire for the Red Sox
BOSTON -- Rafael Devers went yard again Wednesday night, homering for the fourth straight game for the Boston Red Sox.
Devers crushed a 1-1 changeup from Oakland A's starter James Kaprielian in the second inning for a two-out, two-run shot to put Boston on top 3-0 at the time. Devers made sure to admire his 387-foot blast before rounding the bases, which he's done with each of his last four homers.
Wednesday's homer was the 128th of Devers' career, breaking a tie with the great Ted Williams for the third-most homers at the age of 25 or younger in Red Sox history. Only Tony Conigliaro (160) and Jim Rice (133) hit more home runs before turning 26.
The four straight games with a homer ties Devers' career-high. He has nine RBIs in that span, and has now driven in at least two runs in each of those last four games, the first time he's done so in his career.
Devers' 16 homers on the season is good for seventh in all of baseball. He also ranks seventh with a .991 OPS and .617 slugging percentage, and is fifth with a .332 batting average. Devers is atop the MLB leaderboard with 85 hits over his first 62 games.
He'll most certainly be an All-Star next month, and has inserted himself into the AL MVP conversation with such a torrid start to the 2022 season.
"Honestly, he's one of the best hitters in the big leagues," Boston manager Alex Cora said after the team's 10-1 win. "There's a lot of guys having great seasons. [Aaron] Judge, [Jose] Ramirez, but he shows up every day. We're happy that he's hitting second for us on a daily basis and playing third base.
"The way he acted in Spring Training, we had a feeling that it was going to be something like this, and it's coming true," added Cora.
All of this will just increase Devers' price tag this offseason, but we'll worry about that later. For now, we'll just enjoy one of the best hitters in baseball absolutely crushing the baseball for the Boston Red Sox.
