Alex Cora Tips Cap To Hirozaku Sawamura After Reliever’s Return Outing

Rafael Devers didn’t crack the Red Sox lineup Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, missing his second consecutive game (though he was available to pinch-hit).

But one member of the team did return from injury in the loss — Hirokazu Sawamura.

Sawamura was reinstated from the 10-day injured list earlier Friday. He received the designation on July 23 due to right tricep inflammation, at which point he had amassed a 2.87 ERA through 38 outings while limiting opponents to a .207 batting average against him.

The right-hander made one rehab appearance while he was sidelined — an outing Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday. He also lasted just one inning that night, but struck out one batter.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora was pleased with the 33-year-old’s performance against the Rays. Sawamura pitched the seventh inning and allowed one hit with two walks and strikeout. The performance brought his season ERA down to 2.79.

“He did a good job,” Cora said after the loss. “It was the heart of the order there, four-run lead for them. Just use him there so he gets his feet wet again, just to get back to the flow. He made some good pitches and he gave us a chance for the offense to come back.”

Sawamura fared much better than starter Martín Pérez, who buried the Red Sox under six earned runs on seven hits through four innings.