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Rafael Devers broke out of slump to lift Red Sox over Rangers with late-inning heroics
Devers was hitless in his last 21 at-bats entering Thursday's game.
In the eighth inning on Thursday, Rafael Devers hit what appeared to be a relatively meaningless double.
The blast, which would have been a homer in 22 out of 30 MLB parks, did break Devers out of an 0-for-24 slump — one that prompted a conversation with Red Sox manager Alex Cora prior to the game.
“It’s a learning process,” Cora said, per MassLive. ‘He’s never been in this situation — struggled so much. Game planning comes into play.”
As Devers reached second base, he raised his arms in mock celebration. His second-half struggles mirror the struggles of the Red Sox as a whole, and even the small victory of breaking a lengthy hit-less slump was an encouraging moment.
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But Devers wasn’t done, and neither were the Red Sox. Tommy Pham walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Alex Verdugo did too. Bogaerts eked out an infield single. That brought Devers — freshly released from slump purgatory — back to the plate.
Devers delivered again — this time a double to left-center that scored both Pham and Verdugo. Kiké Hernandez singled in Bogaerts, who represented the tying run. Then Rob Refsnyder singled as well, driving in — who else? — Devers for the game-winner.
“That last inning was what we expected out of the lineup,” Cora told reporters after the game. “Swing at strikes, keep the line moving.”
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The Red Sox still have a myriad of issues. They are 7.5 games out of the last wild-card slot and four games below .500. They have a struggling pitching staff, plenty of questions about roster construction, and a down year from many of their stars. They have a number of difficult decisions to make this offseason.
But in a weird season, Thursday’s win ended in oddly normal fashion — the Red team’s best player led them to a win. Devers finished the final two innings of a game-winning rally 2-for-2 with three RBIs, two doubles, and two runs. His first double jump-started the action, and he crossed the plate last in the ninth to punctuate the victory.
“We always talk about pitch selection, and use the whole field, and today was a good sign,” Cora said. “He hit a few balls to center, going the other way. He’s swinging better. That last at-bat he got a pitch to hit and didn’t try to do too much. That’s something he needs to do. If you look at the numbers with runners in scoring position, he’s at .240 or something like that. We need these guys to do that.
“It was fun to watch him locked in.”
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