Red Sox Notes: True All-Star Break Serves Rafael Devers Well

It was a bit surprising when Rafael Devers failed to crack the American League roster for the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

He has become a bit of a regular at the event, after all. The 26-year-old was passed over for Texas Rangers rookie Josh Jung and Cleveland Guardians fixture José Ramírez, though, so instead of making his third-consecutive appearance in the midsummer classic, Devers took the time to head back home to the Dominican Republic.

That’s precisely why Red Sox manager Alex Cora doesn’t believe his star was too upset with missing out on Seattle.

“No. Not at all, nope,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… I think he was happy going to the Dominican, I’ll tell you that.”

The vacation served Devers well, as he returned to the diamond by going 3-for-5 with two home runs in the Red Sox’s win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday night.

RAFFY TO THE SCOREBOARD! pic.twitter.com/ZDpsV9uR6g

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— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 15, 2023

“He’s been hitting the ball hard and staying with his approach, so it was just a matter of time,” Cora said of Devers. “This is a guy that’s done it before, and obviously the last month he’s been walking a lot. He’s been controlling the zone. Those were two really good swings.”

The superb night prompted questions about whether Devers set himself up for another torrid second half.

“If he keeps controlling the zone,” Cora replied. “I think that’s the most important thing, is to take your walks, swing at strikes and hit the ball in the air. He can do that, we’ve seen it before. He controlled the zone really well last year, especially in September. He walked like 17 times. Obviously, we like the aggressiveness, but we need to be aggressive in the zone. When he does that, he becomes one of the most dangerous hitters in the big leagues.”

The Red Sox already have received 22 home runs and 72 RBIs worth of production from Devers through 88 games, so we’re sure they aren’t too broken up about his All-Star snub.

Here are more notes from Friday night’s Red Sox-Cubs game:

— The Red Sox crushed six home runs Friday night, with Devers (twice), Adam Duvall, Triston Casas, Justin Turner and Yu Chang accounting for 2,461 feet worth of home runs. That’s almost a half mile.

“We did a good job,” Cora said. “We’re going to hit, we know that. It’s just a matter of staying with our approach. And obviously today it played small (at Wrigley Field). We hit the ball in the air and we got rewarded.”

. “We’re going to hit, we know that. It’s just a matter of staying with our approach.”

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora

— Turner got the start at second base in this one, marking the 38-year-old’s first start at the position since Sept. 6, 2015. It worked out well, as he went errorless through seven innings of work up the middle before moving to first base in the eighth inning.

— Masataka Yoshida went 2-for-5 from the dish, extending his multi-hit game streak to eight straight. He’s pushed his batting average to .317 on the season — good for second in the American League. It is the longest such streak by a lefthanded Red Sox hitter since Ted Williams in 1940, per team statistician J.P. Long.

— This was just the 12th game to take place on a Friday night at Wrigley Field in Major League Baseball history.

— Kenley Jansen was called upon when things got rocky in the ninth inning, as Tayler Scott loaded the bases with the game-tying run on deck. It took Jansen just three pitches to close the door, following the same script as his appearance in the 2023 MLB All-Star Game.

— The Red Sox and Cubs will continue their three-game set Saturday at Wrigley Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.