New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has joked that Boston Red Sox All-Star Rafael Devers is his kryptonite, and the numbers in the head-to-head matchup between the pitcher and the slugger say so, too.
But the Red Sox didn't expect Cole, who was playing early Saturday afternoon, to hold up four fingers as Devers stepped into the box for his second at-bat, indicating an intentional walk.
The Red Sox would crush Cole in that inning and remove him from the game shortly after, and they held no hard feelings for the right-hander's decision to give Devers a free pass.
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New York manager Aaron Boone takes the ball from starting pitcher Gerrit Cole during a pitching change during the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. (Images by Brad Penner-Imagn)
“I feel like he showed a lot of weakness in that move,” Boston starter Brayan Bello said through translator Carlos Villoria Benitez after the Sox's 7-1 victory.
Devers himself added through Benitez: “It caught me by surprise. I didn't expect that from a future Hall of Famer, and I feel like he panicked a little bit.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora even believes Cole hit Devers in his first at-bat on purpose.
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“He doesn't want to face him. That's the bottom line,” Cora said, via ESPN. “He told us with the intentional walk that in the first at-bat he hit him.”
At the time of the intentional walk, the Yankees held a 1-0 lead after Gleyber Torres hit a run-scoring single in the previous inning. But in the top of the fourth inning, Cole went wild.
Cole, whose only runner in the game before the one-out walk was Devers on the hit pitch, saw 10 of the next 12 batters reach base and the runs started coming in. It started with Masataka Yoshida’s RBI double that drove in Devers (the first hit allowed by Cole in the game) and Wilyer Abreu brought home two more with a single in the next at-bat.
The Red Sox scored four more runs off Cole in the top of the fifth inning, where the Yankees simply saw a lack of confidence and control in their ace's finishing. Cole struck out three batters, a career high, and allowed the most runs in an outing since June 9, 2022.
And Devers got his revenge on Cole, as he drove in two runners in that inning with a rope to right-center field. With the bases loaded at the time, Cole had to pitch to Devers, who waited for a knuckle-dangling curveball and sent it flying into the outfield.
“It was a tough day,” Cole said after the game.
Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers follows through with a two-run single against New York at Yankee Stadium. (Images by Brad Penner-Imagn)
“They took advantage of the momentum. It inspired them,” Cole added of Devers' intentional walk. “I think in retrospect it was the wrong decision.”
Of course, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked what exactly prompted Cole to intentionally walk Devers with one out and no one on base in an outing in which he appeared to be calm. Boone said he and Cole discussed the possible use of intentional walks before the game even though the right-hander hadn't walked a batter in seven years.
However, Cole entered the clubhouse tunnel before the fourth inning, where he spoke with pitching coach Matt Blake about the intentional walk to Devers.
“It caught me a little bit by surprise,” Cole catcher Austin Wells said. “I thought he had some good momentum.”
Boone added: “Once we scored the run, my preference would have been to go after them. But obviously, I didn't communicate well.”
Either way, the Red Sox, who watched Aaron Judge hit a game-winning grand slam the night before in a 5-4 loss at Yankee Stadium, needed a boost if they wanted to keep their postseason dreams alive.
New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole reacts against the Boston Red Sox. (Images by Brad Penner-Imagn)
While the Yankees are battling the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East title, the Red Sox are hoping to sneak into the postseason in one of the AL's three wild-card spots. Yesterday's win put them 3.5 games out of that final spot, which is currently held by the Minnesota Twins.
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The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners are one game ahead of Boston in the standings.
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