Rafael Devers continues to own the New York Yankees
BOSTON -- Shortly after learning that he had made his third MLB All-Star team, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers went out and did what he does best: Crush the New York Yankees.
Devers had two big swings and a massive defensive play Sunday night to lift Boston to a 3-0 win over the Yankees in the Bronx. He broke up a scoreless game in the top of the seventh with a 373-foot opposite field homer off Yankees starter Luis Gil, and then launched a truly fascinating -- and somewhat baffling -- moonshot to center field in the top of the ninth to give Boston a 3-0 edge.
Ahead in the count 0-1 against Devers, New York reliever Michael Tonkin threw a 93 MPH fastball up and out of the strike zone. Devers went hunting and not only made contact, but sent it 423 feet into the Yankees bullpen to give Boston some insurance.
Everyone who watched that blasts leave the yard had the same question: "How the heck did Rafael Devers just do that?"
"The first [homer] was impressive," Boston skipper Alex Cora said after the win. "The second one, I saw the replay and I don't know how you can do that. That pitch is way off the plate and he barreled it."
Good pitch or bad pitch, it doesn't matter for Rafael Devers. Especially in the Bronx.
Devers is up to 28 career homers against the Yankees, his most against any opponent. He's mashed 16 of those round-trippers in the Bronx, the most by any visiting player in Major League Baseball since the 2017 season. Only Ted Williams and David Ortiz (30 each), Carl Yastrzemski (24), Jim Rice (22), and Manny Ramirez (18) have hit more road homers against the Yankees in a Red Sox uniform.
This season, Devers is now up to 21 homers to lead the Red Sox. He leads his team in just about every offensive category, touting a .293 average, a .378 OBP, a .593 slugging percentage (good for fourth in all of baseball), a .971 OPS, and 55 RBI.
We're used to seeing Devers swing a big bat, but he also made an excellent defensive play Sunday night. And he didn't even have to flash any leather.
The Yankees had a runner on first and two outs in the bottom of the eighth when DJ LeMahieu hit a soft grounder to the third base side. Devers charged, snatched the ball barehanded, and then fired to first base to end the inning.
At the plate or in the field, Devers has been bringing it for the Red Sox all season.
"He loves the spotlight, man, and he's very quiet about it but you could feel it in the dugout from the get-go," Cora said of his All-Star third baseman. "It seems like the stadium was quiet today compared to the last two days. And he kept going, 'Let's go, guys. We've gotta keep going. We've gotta push. We've gotta push.' At the end, he put us on his shoulders and carried us to a W."
Devers helped the Red Sox take two of three from the Yankees over the weekend, capping off a 5-1 road trip through Miami and New York. Boston sits 1.5 games up on the Kansas City Royals for the final Wild Card spot in the American League.
