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Rafael Devers

Devers: “Oh, Henry”

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KANSAS CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After meeting with Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry, veteran slugger Rafael Devers remained at designated hitter for Friday night’s road game against the Kansas City Royals.

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Devers, a three-time All-Star at third base, already lost that spot on the field when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to a three-year contract in February. The nine-year veteran was vocal this week about not wanting to take over at first base, at least not full time.

Devers met with Henry and manager Alex Cora before the game. Boston’s chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, who joined team president Sam Kennedy and Henry on the trip to Kansas City, said Henry “seems to have had a productive conversation (with Devers), and that’s where it is at right now.”

Cora also called it “a good conversation,” although he said no decision was made about Devers’ position going forward.

Devers “expressed his feelings. John did the same. I think everybody saw who was here, so I think that carries weight in the clubhouse,” Cora said.

The first base vacancy arose when Triston Casas went down with a season-ending injury to his left knee on May 2. Casas had surgery on his left patella.

Devers said on Thursday that the Red Sox floated the idea of him moving to first shortly after Casas’ injury. He said the team “can’t expect me to play every single position out there.”

Devers, who has played exclusively at DH this season, started the season slowly at the plate, going 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts before breaking into the hit column in his sixth game.

He has rebounded of late, hitting .365 in his last 13 games to raise his batting average to .253. He went 1-for-5 and drove in Boston’s only run in a 2-1 loss to the Royals in 12 innings on Friday.

Devers has a career batting average of .278. In his nine seasons in the majors, he has 206 home runs and 664 RBIs.

 

Devers Hits – Baseball and Breslow

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Before he went way off script to question the Red Sox organization and team General Manager Craig Breslow, current designated hitter Rafael Devers had two hits, including a home run, and the Boston Red Sox used four pitchers to earn a 5-0 victory over the visiting Texas Rangers on Thursday.

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Devers made it a five-run lead when he hit a solo home run against reliever Jacob Latz in the seventh inning. It was his sixth home run of the season. Devers also had an RBI single in the fifth.

“In spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove, that I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH, so right now, I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position,” said Devers to reporters through an interpreter (Spanish-English).

“I don’t feel that they stayed true to their word,” he said. “They told me that I was going to be playing this position, DH, and now they’re going back on that. So I just don’t think they stayed true to their word,” said Devers. “They’ve told me I’m a little hard-headed. [But] they already asked me to change once, and this time, I don’t think I can be as flexible.”

Back to the ballgame, Ceddanne Rafaela also had two hits for the Red Sox, who had six total hits, while winning consecutive games for the first time this month.

Boston starter Brayan Bello pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings but struggled with his control. He held Texas to four hits and struck out one with five walks.

Justin Slaten (1-3) took over for Bello in the fifth inning and did not allow a run over 1 1/3 hitless innings. Garrett Whitlock pitched the seventh and Liam Hendriks was on the mound for the final two innings, recording two strikeouts.

No. 9 hitter Tucker Barnhart had three hits for Texas, which was limited to five singles in the loss. Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith also had hits for the Rangers.

Texas received 5 1/3 innings from starting pitcher Jack Leiter (2-2), who allowed three runs on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

The Red Sox scored two runs in the second, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Trevor Story handed Boston a 1-0 lead when he scored on a Leiter wild pitch in the first inning. The Red Sox doubled their lead later in the inning on a Jarren Duran groundout that allowed Carlos Narvaez to score.

It remained 2-0 until the fifth, when Rafaela scored on a Devers single to center. A Narvaez single drove in Story to make it 4-0 in the sixth before Devers’ home run in the seventh.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Expecting Return of Devers

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OAKLAND – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The visiting Boston Red Sox hope to have Rafael Devers back in the lineup when they go for a second straight win over the reeling Oakland Athletics tonight.

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With Devers being held out as a precaution due to a tight right calf, veteran Justin Turner slid over to third base and contributed a double, a run and two RBIs to a 7-0 triumph over the A’s in Monday’s series opener.

The double advanced Turner’s hitting streak to 13 games, during which he’s gone 20-for-49 (.408), raising his average from .271 to .290 in the process.

Should Devers return to action on Tuesday, Turner could move to second base — or first base or maybe even DH. The amazing part about his 13-game streak is that it’s come even as he has been shuffled among four different positions.

It also came immediately following a 4-for-28 (.143) stretch that saw his average drop 13 points.

When asked Monday to pinpoint what he’s done differently of late, Turner admitted: Nothing.

“There’s obviously a lot of variables and a lot of aspects to hitting,” he said. “Nowadays, with so many hitting coaches and swing coaches and swing gadgets, everyone’s so fast to overhaul or change things or use these gadgets because they think their swing isn’t working. The reality is: Your swing is fine but your timing is not.

“That is probably kind of a big issue in the game right now, (players) creating dependency on outside hitting people and all these drills and gimmicks to trick you into thinking you need all this stuff to be successful.”Turner was among eight Red Sox starters who had hits in the Monday win, Boston’s 11th victory in the past 13 games. At a position to be determined, he will take his cracks in the rematch against A’s right-hander Luis Medina (2-7, 6.34 ERA).

The 24-year-old rookie got a no-decision in Oakland’s 7-3 loss at Boston on July 7, allowing four runs in six innings while striking out a season-best nine. It was his first appearance against the Red Sox.

Medina won his previous start at home against the Chicago White Sox, a 7-4 victory in which he went five innings, allowing just one run.

The Red Sox used an opener approach in the Monday win, and it worked spectacularly. Three pitchers combined on a one-hitter in which the A’s got just five baserunners (a single, three walks and a hit batter) while striking out a total of 18 times.

Afterward, rather than blame fatigue following a hard-fought, three-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins that ended Sunday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay chose to praise Nick Pivetta, the second of Boston’s three pitchers on Monday. Pivetta pitched no-hit six innings and struck out 13.

“You run into a buzzsaw sometimes. This seemed to be one of those nights,” said Kotsay, whose team has lost eight in a row. “You just got to tip your cap sometimes.”

The Red Sox are expected to use a similar tactic on Tuesday, with left-hander Chris Murphy (0-0, 2.16 ERA) serving either as the opener or the bulk-innings reliever.

The 25-year-old California native worked the second through fourth innings in a July 9 home win over the A’s — the first time he’d ever faced them — allowing one run on two hits.

–Field Level Media.    

Devers, Red Sox Blast White Sox

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CHICAGO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Brayan Bello turned in another strong start and Rafael Devers hit a two-run home run as the Boston Red Sox ended a two-game losing streak by beating the host Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Friday night.

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It was a 1-1 game until Devers hit his 18th home run of the season in the fourth inning. Masataka Yoshida, who reached on an error, also scored on the blast.

The homer came against Chicago starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (5-5), who allowed three runs (one earned) and struck out 10 in six innings. Giolito surrendered three hits and walked one.

Devers raised his RBI total to 60. Yoshida had two of Boston’s four hits in the win, with Enrique Hernandez collected the Red Sox’s other hit.

Bello (5-4) limited the White Sox to a run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He recorded five strikeouts and walked one. Bello has given up no more than two earned runs in nine of his past 10 starts, and pitching to a 2.45 ERA in that span.

Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 16th save of the season.

The Red Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, when David Hamilton walked, stole second and scored on a two-base error by second baseman Tim Anderson. The White Sox made it 1-1 in the bottom of the inning on Anderson’s sacrifice fly, which scored Seby Zavala.

Hamilton made his major league debut on Wednesday and made his second start on Friday, going 0-for-2 to leave him 1-for-5 overall. He stole 70 bases for Double-A Portland last season and had 27 thefts with Triple-A Worcester this year.

Eloy Jimenez had three hits for the White Sox, who have lost nine of their last 12 games. Chicago, which finished with eight hits, is 18-20 at home this season.

Boston’s victory came in the opener of a three-game series. It was the first meeting between the Red Sox and White Sox this season.

–Field Level Media