'He loves the spotlight, man'
Boston third baseman Rafael Devers isn’t known for being the most vocal on the Red Sox, but he had his voice heard Sunday night in New York.
The 27-year-old had a big game Sunday when he was selected to the All-Star Game and hit two home runs against the Yankees.
With a quiet Yankee Stadium due to starting pitcher Kutter Crawford silencing the New York bats, Devers took matters into his own hands to keep the Red Sox dugout energy high. The help of the third baseman impressed Boston manager Alex Cora enough to give him credit in his postgame comments.
“He loves the spotlight, man, and he’s very quiet about it but you could feel it in the dugout from the get-go,” Cora told reporters, per MassLive’s Christoper Smith. “It seems like the stadium was quiet today compared to the last two days. And he kept going, ‘Let’s go, guys. We’ve gotta keep going. We’ve gotta push. We’ve gotta push.’ At the end, he put us on his shoulders and carried us to a W.”
Devers hit his first homer in the seventh inning to open up scoring for the Red Sox. To top off his day, the third baseman hit a longball on a pitch that was over a foot out of the strike zone to cement a 3-0 win.
The momentum that Devers brought to the Red Sox can be brought into their series opener Tuesday against the Oakland Athletics. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m., with full coverage on NESN.