Devers getting some pointers
Despite the Red Sox bowing out of last season’s Division Series in four games against the Astros, one encouraging sign was that Rafael Devers certainly wasn’t shy of the October moment.
The then-rookie hit two home runs in the series, including a two-run bomb that proved to be the gamewinner in the Sox’ Game 3 victory. It was a sign of the promise of Devers, who played well when called up to the big leagues during the season.
To that effect, the Red Sox are hoping they can bring Devers up to form again as they head down the stretch and into this year’s playoffs.
“He’s talented, we know that,” Sox manager Alex Cora said. “And he can do some damage. We want him to get there. We want that guy, I really do, and that’s what we’ve been talking to him, keep putting quality atbats. Don’t worry about the results, just stay with the course, don’t chase (pitches), which is the most important thing with him. If he does that, he’s going to put the ball in play and he’s going to do damage, but if he’s chasing he’s not going to do that.”
Devers, who hit his 17th home run of the season in the Sox’ 4-3 win over the Blue Jays last night, has hit a sophomore wall after a promising rookie campaign. A pair of injuries sidelined him for portions of the season, and it’s clearly been a learning year for the third baseman, both offensively and defensively, as he’s tried to acclimate himself to the big leagues for a full season.
“He missed not a few steps, a lot of steps, as far as like player development,” said Cora, who noted Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi went through similar introductions to the majors. “And the good thing is, with Raffy, there’s a lot of guys there that help him out. Mitch (Moreland), you know, Eduardo (Nunez). All those guys that they’ve been around. They’ve been through situations like that. Get called up early in their careers, and all of a sudden they’re not playing, or there’s struggles. He has a few mentors down there. The good thing is about him, he listens. He listens to them.”
With less than a month before the playoffs start, Devers is continuing to work on not pressing at the plate, Cora said. Since returning from his latest stint on the disabled list, he’s 2-for-13, after going 1-for-2 last night.
“At one point I thought he was a little bit anxious to produce. He’s not doing that,” Cora said. “So, he’s talented. We trust the guy and we’ll see where we go with him. He’s going to get a few at-bats against righties this weekend again, and hopefully he can get going. He knows where we’re at right now, and like I said, just be ready. Whenever you’re in the lineup, go out there and put quality atbats, play good defense and that’s all we need from him.”
Nunez exits with injury
Nunez left the game in the fourth inning with what the Sox described as right knee soreness after he slid hard into second base on a double.
Cora said Nunez felt some discomfort after a play earlier in the game, but wanted to test it out for his fourth-inning at-bat. Nunez ran well on his double, but Cora wanted to take precaution.
“He’ll be day to day over the weekend,” Cora said. “He’s not going to play (tonight), and we’ll see how he feels (tomorrow).”
It’s the same knee that gave Nunez recurring problems last year and ultimately ended his season when he injured it in the playoffs,
Cora didn’t seem concerned. “We don’t feel it’s something serious,” he said. “It’s just he felt it shift a little bit, I guess, but he should be fine. He was running well with that ball off the wall, so like I said, we’ll see how it goes over the weekend. He won’t play (tonight). If he doesn’t play over the weekend, he won’t. We have Monday off, so we’ll go from there.”
Wright man for role?
Could the Red Sox’ search for a reliable eighth-inning arm ultimately be Steven Wright? In Wednesday night’s win over the Jays, Cora turned to Wright for the eighth after David Price produced seven strong innings. The knuckleballer gave up a leadoff double and then a walk, but retired the next three batters.
But Cora isn’t sure yet how he’ll use Wright going forward.
“We’ll see,” he said. “You saw him yesterday pitch in the eighth. He’s pitched the sixth, the seventh, two innings, first of all, we’re trying to keep him healthy. That’s the most important thing. He’s doing a good job.”
Cora is hopeful Matt Barnes can be an option. He’s confident the reliever can return in the regular season as he works back from hip inflammation. Cora said he may pitch on a mound this weekend or next week.
Sale still on for Sunday
Chris Sale is scheduled to throw a bullpen today. Cora said the plan is for Sale to start Sunday against the Mets. He wasn’t sure yet how many innings he’ll throw . . . .
Mookie Betts was out of the lineup last night with a scheduled off day.