After a rewarding 2018 season, 2019 hasn’t been what the Red Sox had hoped for.
Boston is just seven games above .500 after dropping Wednesday night’s game to the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park. But that doesn’t mean every player has struggled this season. In fact, several of them have found record-setting success.
Rafael Devers has had himself one heck of a season, becoming the youngest player since 1965 to hit 30-plus home runs in a season The third baseman hit his 30th in the sixth inning.
XanderBogaerts has had a stellar season as well, driving in more than 100 runs for the second season in a row on top of 31 dingers of his own.
The pair even became the first set of teammates in Major League Baseball history to collect 30-plus home runs and 50-plus doubles in the same season Wednesday night.
Despite the duo’s success this season, manager Alex Cora said Devers and Bogaerts are frustrated by the team’s struggles in 2019.
“They don’t like where we’re at and obviously, they’re part of the future,” he said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We’re going to keep getting better, and they’re part of who we’re gonna try to (use to) accomplish (success) in the upcoming years.”
But there is a bright side to all of this.
“There’s a few things that we will get better (at) and they have to work on and they know it and they’re going to keep improving,” Cora said. “That’s the cool thing about it. What they’ve done, it’s only happened once, you know (it’s) the first time in the history of the game. You know, 30 homers and 50 doubles and there’s still room for improvement. … They take pride of their craft and I do believe that they’re going to keep getting better.”
Here are some more notes from Wednesday’s Red Sox-Giants game:
— It was an especially big night for Devers.
The 22-year-old is only the 11th player with 30-plus home runs, 100-plus RBIs and 100-plus runs scored in one season before reaching age 23. Other players that achieved the rare feat include Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols and Ted Williams, among others.
— Devers and Bogaerts aren’t the only ones to make history tonight, however.
The Red Sox now are the first team since 2008 to have at least four players with 70-plus extra-base hits in a season. The only other American League teams to accomplish this were the Los Angeles Angels (2000) and the Seattle Mariners (1996).
— Mike Yastrzemski is 3-for-11 in his first series at Fenway Park including a home run, a double, two walks, two RBIs and three runs scored.
— Giants’ Bruce Bochy recorded win No. 2,000 as a manager just 10 games before he’s set to retire.
Cora congratulated him on the feat after the game.
“Two-thousand wins at this level, that’s kind of, like unreal,” he said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I think everybody that gets to this job wished they could last that long. And to be able to do what he has done throughout his career, I know people focus on the other stuff, whatever, but he’s a winner. You know, 2,000 (wins), and the (World Series) rings and the way he’s gone about the business, I mean, has been amazing. Congratulations.”
