The Boston Red Sox fell shy of what would have been an improbable comeback against the New York Yankees on Thursday night at Fenway Park.
In the 6-5 loss, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games due to lower back and hamstring soreness. He made his impact known, mashing two no-doubt home runs off Gerrit Cole amid a five-RBI performance.
When asked about how fun it is to watch Devers on a night like Thursday's, Red Sox manager Alex Cora poured on the praise.
"Against a great pitcher too," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "What he's done against Cole the last three games... two walks and a homer in the wild-card game, then the homer on Opening Day and then today a walk and two big swings. You know he's that good. Raffy, he's a good player.
"Hopefully he'll start in Dodger Stadium in a few weeks (for the All-Star game). The stage is not... he doesn't get caught up in the whole thing. He enjoys playing baseball and helping his team to win. Probably he's down there, he's upset because we didn't win. He did everything. He might think about the ground ball he hit to short against a lefty instead of talking about the homers and the walk. He's a special player, special hitter."
Devers has six home runs against Cole, the most the Yankees' ace has allowed to any individual in Major League Baseball, past or present.
Here are more notes from Red Sox-Yankees:
-- Josh Winckowski did not have the best game of his career, allowing six earned runs with six hits, five walks and two strikeouts. Josh Donaldson hit a grand slam in the second inning, and Aaron Hicks went back-to-back with a solo shot. The other "earned" run was a missed popup from Franchy Cordero that should not be on the right-hander's tab.
"He got in trouble with the walks," Cora said. "We walked (Joey) Gallo twice, then we loaded the bases before the big swing by Donaldson. Then we got two outs, we didn't make a play. It was a good learning experience. He's still learning how to pitch and that's a big stage out there against the best team in baseball. He was one pitch away from getting out of it. It didn't happen but he battled today. He gave us five so he's going to keep getting better."
-- Cora alluded to Michael Wacha being the latest starter to go on the injured list. Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill and James Paxton are already there, and Garrett Whitlock was injured as a starter, but is now transitioning back to the bullpen.
-- The Red Sox have fallen back to fourth place in the American League East.
-- Connor Seabold will take the mound Friday night. It will be the 26-year-old's second start of the season. He has an 8.31 ERA this season with 11 strikeouts and a 2.08 WHIP.
-- The Red Sox will play the second of a four-game set against the Yankees on Friday at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET following an hour of pregame coverage, and you can watch it all on NESN.
