The Boston Red Sox picked up a hard-fought, team win Saturday night at Fenway Park, but it didn’t come without a sour note.
In the eighth inning of the Red Sox’s 10-4 victory over Minnesota Twins, Rafael Devers came up lame as he reached third base on an Eduardo Nunez double. Manager Alex Cora wasted no time pulling the third baseman from the game, which might be the last one Devers plays in for a while.
Speaking with reporters after his team’s second straight win, Cora shed some light on Devers’ injury, which might initially have been sustained in the first inning.
“Looks like left hammy (hamstring),” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “We’ll know more tomorrow morning. He said he felt it on the bunt early, he felt tight. And there it grabbed him rounding second. He’s down there in the training room, obviously we’ll see tomorrow when he comes in. We’ll see.”
While Cora’s update was somewhat vague given the lack of immediate information, the Red Sox skipper did note that it looks like the 21-year-old will be headed to the disabled list.
If Devers is, in fact, ticketed for the disabled list, Nunez likely will see the bulk of the time at third base, while Brock Holt serves as an option at the position as well.
Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Twins:
— Mookie Betts notched his 20th stolen base of the season and 100th of his career. In the process, the 25-year-old became the youngest player in Red Sox franchise history to reach 100 steals and 100 home runs.
— Nunez had gone 46 plate appearance without an extra-base hit entering Friday’s game. After doubling in that contest, the veteran infielder picked up another two-bagger as well as a two-RBI triple in Saturday’s win.
— J.D. Martinez blasted a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning, his 32nd of 2018. The slugger has been particularly dominant at Fenway, where he has a 42-game on-base streak, the longest at the ballpark since Nomar Garciaparra reached base in 42 straight games from 2002 to 2003.
— Tyler Thornburg turned in his best outing in a Red Sox uniform. In a high-leverage situation that was a two-run game in the eighth inning, the right-hander retired the side in order on just 12 pitches.
— Rick Porcello wasn’t at his best, but he battled through 5 2/3 innings in which he allowed four runs on five hits to earn his 13th win of the season, which is good for second in Major League Baseball.
— The Red Sox trailed 4-1 in the fourth inning before mounting a comeback and notching their 30th come-from-behind victory on the year.
— The Red Sox are just the 20th team in MLB’s Modern Era to win as many as 73 of their first 106 games.
