The Boston Red Sox offense couldn’t capitalize Thursday in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, falling 5-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
The group had nine hits to Tampa Bay’s six, but were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men players on base.
Rafael Devers logged one hit in four at-bats, but had two strikeouts — the most glaring of which came when Boston loaded the bases in the eighth inning. That at-bat prompted conversation on Twitter about Devers’ health, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora shut down any speculation in his postgame press conference.
“It’s the grind of 162,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “All those things that happen, you get treatment and you grind. Not everybody is 100% right now. He’s posting. A few days ago he was dropping the bat the same way and nobody said anything.”
Devers was crushing it during Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Washington Nationals, when he launched two home runs for the Red Sox in the comeback win. He was 2-for-4 with a pair of walks and a run in the Wild Card Game against the New York Yankees.
He and the rest of the Red Sox will be back at it again Friday for Game 2 against the Rays.
