Rafael Devers has been a thorn in Gerrit Cole and the Yankees’ side for years, and that rivalry took another turn on Saturday.
The Yankees ace hit the Red Sox slugger in his first at-bat, then bizarrely intentionally walked Devers in the fourth inning with one out and nobody on and holding a 1-0 lead.
The intentional walk sparked a three-run fourth to give the Red Sox the lead as Cole’s day seemed to spiral after that moment, failing to make it out of the fifth inning in a 7-1 loss.
“We discussed in the days prior to and during the game of strategically walking him,” Cole said. “We were in the tunnel before the inning and discussed if [Jarren] Duran was retired if that was the plan. I looked to the dugout and stuck with the plan. If I make pitches after that and continue to execute at a high level then the plan works. Evidently, the plan didn’t work.”
Manager Aaron Boone said that he discussed a gameplan with Cole on walking Devers in that situation, but admitted he should have been more clear to Cole to not intentionally walk him in that moment.
“Once we scored the run, my preference would have been to attack him,” Boone said. “I didn’t communicate that well enough. I think Gerrit was a little indecisive out there and rolled with it, but in the end didn’t get enough outs from there.”
Devers got the best of Cole in the fifth when he ripped a two-RBI double into the gap to give Boston a 5-1 lead.
In the Red Sox clubhouse, the chatter was also about Cole and Devers, but manager Alex Cora was heated and believed that Cole also intentionally threw at Devers in the first inning.
“He doesn’t wanna face him. That’s the bottom line,” Cora said. “He told us with the intentional walk that the first at-bat he hit him. We’ll leave it at that. … We took exception to that because he was loud and clear that he didn’t want to face him.”
Cole hit three batters total in the game. Red Sox starter Brayan Bello appeared to retaliate in the sixth when he threw behind Aaron Judge and had something to say about Cole after the game. The Yankees then hit Devers again in the ninth with Tim Hill on the mound, drawing a strong reaction from the Boston dugout.
“I didn’t hit Devers on purpose,” Cole said. “He can believe what he wants to believe. I didn’t hit him on purpose.”
Added Boone: “[Cole] definitely wasn’t throwing at him. If you look at it, [Devers] was right on the line. He threw a cutter trying to get it in there and didn’t. I don’t think there’s any intent from Gerrit there.”