Rafael Devers joined two baseball greats Tuesday night.
During the second inning of the Boston Red Sox’s 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, the third baseman launched his 10th home run of the season into the right field seats.
The blast marked the 20th of Devers’ career, making him just the third player in franchise history to do so before turning 22 years old, joining the legends of Ted Williams and Tony Conigliaro.
“I’ve always been someone who hits for power,” Devers said through an interpreter after the game, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “I think of myself as more of a contact hitter, even though I’m striking out a lot right now.”
Devers did strike out three times in the game, but it was his home run that lifted Boston to an early 2-1 lead before the Sox tacked on four more runs to put the O’s away.
Over the weekend, J.D. Martinez helped his teammate in the batting cage because he thought he noticed something wrong with Devers’ swing. The work might have helped, as the third baseman was able to come up big for Boston early in the game Tuesday at Camden Yards.
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Red Sox-Orioles game:
— Eduardo Rodriguez tossed 5 2/3 innings giving up two earned runs on eight hits. The lefty has struggled going deep into games this season and has yet to last longer than 6 2/3 innings in a start this season.
“Eduardo was good,” manager Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “(The) next step for him is to go deeper into the game (and) keep that pitch count down.”
Cora praised his pitcher, saying Rodriguez “did his job,” but he just feels “there’s more there.”
— Despite Rodriguez not going deep into games, the Red Sox are 12-1 when he’s taken the mound this season.
— The bullpen has had its work cut out for them over the last two games. When asked if he was concerned about the availability of bullpen arms for Wednesday’s finale, Cora gave a simple answer:
“Yeah, to say the least.”
— Despite putting up six runs and collecting nine hits on the night, the Sox left 10 men on base.
— Tuesday’s win was the league-leading 46th of the season for Boston.
