Alex Cora Takes Firm Stand On Health Of Red Sox Star Rafael Devers

The health of Red Sox star third baseman Rafael Devers came into question before Boston faced the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night at Progressive Field.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Gresh and Fauria” show Wednesday, discussed a play in which Devers didn’t show maximum effort getting down the first-base line on a grounder after a team meeting during the recent series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

“It all depends on how you see it, right?” Cora told Andy Gresh and Christian Fauria. “Raffy’s going to play 152 games, and people don’t know what’s going on in the background. You don’t know if he’s a little banged up or if he’s actually 100%. So for people to judge it that way, I think it’s not the right thing to do because not everybody knows his story.

“Maybe he’s 100%, maybe he’s not. We keep it in the clubhouse with that. We let people judge whatever they want to do and we move forward.”

Cora was then asked directly by Fauria if Devers was “banged up.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Cora said.

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Devers hasn’t played anywhere close to All-Star caliber in the last couple of weeks. Over his last 14 games, Devers is batting .167 with no home runs and five RBIs while striking out 14 times and drawing six walks. It’s vastly different results compared to earlier in the season as Devers leads the Red Sox with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs.

But prior to the Red Sox looking for a second straight win against the Guardians, Cora made sure to address the injury status of Devers when he met with the media.

“I got asked today about Raffy,” Cora told reporters per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “And Raffy is not banged up. I just feel like sometimes people question effort. And over 162 games, there’s certain times that you hit a bullet at 108 (mph exit velocity) right at the shortstop and there’s nothing else you can do. So it’s that balance of hustling or false hustling, like taking care of your legs, too.

“I just want to make sure everybody knows he’s not hurt. Obviously when things are looking bad and you have team meetings and all that stuff, people are going to question what’s going on. And effort always comes into play. And I respect the guys. I respect the question. But from my end, Raffy’s not banged up.”