Devers breaks out with bat, glove
Sox likely to use opener tonight
Rafael Devers has had a few big moments in the 2020 season, but the young Red Sox third baseman feels like he hasn’t struggled this much since he was sent to the minor leagues in 2018.
Devers was 1-for-4 with a key home run and a pair of defensive web gems in the Sox’ 5-3 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday, but his .175 average and .593 OPS to start the season has humbled him.
“Obviously, this is something I’ve experienced in the past,” he said. “In 2018 I had these struggles and when I was in the minor leagues. It’s a part of baseball. … I just try to keep a positive mindset because I know the work that I put in it, and if I continue to do so, eventually it will even out.”
At least he’s still coming up with big hits.
He had a game-tying home run against the Yankees last Sunday before the Sox’ eventual loss. And he hit another game-tying homer in the sixth inning on Sunday against the Blue Jays, keeping his hands in on an inside fastball and launching it over the center-field wall for his second blast of the year.
The next inning, Devers went out and made a dazzling barehanded play on a tough ground ball down the line, then threw out Randal Grichuk at first. Two batters later, he made another quick-fire throw to nail the lead runner at second base on a tough grounder up the middle.
The pair of heads-up plays resulted in manager Ron Roenicke feeling good about Devers’ confidence.
“You make a great defensive play and all of a sudden it seems like you have a great at-bat,” he said. “Today it was the other way around. The homer and a great defensive play.”
Hitting coach Tim Hyers thinks Devers will start hitting better once the youngster stops swinging so aggressively, which has been his reputation as long as he’s been on the Sox.
“It looked like he started swinging harder and expanding the zone,” Hyers said. “As a hitter, you go out there and try to get hits, and that’s the wrong approach. I think pitch selection is No. 1 for Devers, and No. 2 is effort level. He’s just really swinging hard instead of letting his good hands work, because we know he’s one of the best hitters in the game whenever he gets the ball in the zone and relies on his hands.”
Eovaldi fans 10
Nathan Eovaldi tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts in six innings of threerun ball after flashing one of the best curveballs he’s ever shown in a Red Sox uniform.
“We were using the curveball a lot today,” he said. “Had a lot of swings and misses on that. Just trying to attack as much as we could. We know they’re an aggressive swinging team and tried to work ahead in the count.”
Against the seventh-most aggressive team in the big leagues on pitches outside the zone (the Red Sox are first), Eovaldi generated whiffs on 14 swings at his breaking ball, and a total of 19 whiffs overall on 52 swings.
The Sox are 3-1 when he starts.
“I told Vazqy (Christian Vazquez) let’s keep throwing the curve if we’re getting swings and misses, because usually we use it as a firstpitch curveball,” Eovaldi said. “But we planned on using that to play off my fastball, the high fastballs. It’s been going good for me so once we’re ahead, spike it in the dirt and use their aggressiveness against them.”
Breaking some rules
It was supposed to be an unusual walk-off celebration without high-fives and hugs, but the Red Sox “broke a few rules” after Mitch Moreland’s homer to end the game on Sunday.
“You’re not supposed to be within 6 feet, air-highfives, things like that,” Eovaldi said. “But a wins a win, especially for it to come at that time. And for it to come at a time like that, it’s a great win for us.”
Relief help found?
Austin Brice is looking like a trustworthy set-up guy in his first year with the Sox.
He recorded four outs in the seventh and eighth inning, striking out three as he lowered his ERA to 4.00. With a funky side-arm delivery, he’s generated 12 strikeouts in nine innings since coming over from the Marlins.
“Really good stuff,” Roenicke said. “Really uncomfortable for right-handers, because the ball comes out of a different slot… When his command is on, a righthander is going to have a lot of trouble with him. And it looks strange also for the left-hander. I love what I’ve seen so far.
Kids struggling
Who will hurt the most during this 60-game season?
Hyers said the Red Sox’ youngest hitters are struggling because “They’re having to do a lot of their homework and preparing by themselves. With the expanded roster, there’s more pitchers to prepare for, limited with the information we have. I think it hurts the younger players more than anybody because the younger players learn from the veterans that sit there and talk about their experiences and how they prepare, how they go about the game. Some of that has been lost this year but we’ll overcome it.”
Rotation in question
The Sox have no plan for who will start Monday’s game, but believe it’ll be an opener.
“We’re still talking about some things,” Roenicke said. “It’s probably going to be an opener type. We’re still discussing that. Martin Perez will go Tuesday, and then we’re going to bring Zack Godley on three days and pitch him on Wednesday.”