Red Sox World Series: Rafael Devers extends postseason RBI streak
Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers has delivered at least one RBI in eight consecutive postseason starts to tie a major league record.
Rafael Devers is the youngest player on the Boston Red Sox World Series roster but he may also be the most fearless when it comes to producing on the postseason stage.
The young third baseman continues to perform in October whenever he’s given the chance. Devers started Game 1 of the World Series, going 1-for-2 with a walk. His fifth-inning base hit against reliever Ryan Madson drove in a run to extend Boston’s lead to 5-3.
That base hit extended Devers’ streak to eight consecutive playoff starts with an RBI, tying Lou Gehrig, Alex Rodriguez, and Ryan Howard for the major league record.
Devers joins Gehrig, A-Rod, and Ryan Howard for the longest streak of playoff starts (8) with an RBI.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 24, 2018
It also marked the 13th postseason RBI Devers has tallied in his career, one shy of the major league record for hitters under the age of 22 set by Andruw Jones.
Devers is celebrating his 22nd birthday today, so there’s no chance of him catching Jones for that arbitrary record no matter what happens the rest of this series. He could have had one last opportunity to set the record when his turn came around in the seventh inning with two runners on base, about 30 minutes shy of midnight. Devers was deprived of that chance when manager Alex Cora decided to pinch-hit for him with Eduardo Nunez against lefty reliever Alex Wood.
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Nunez put the game away with a three-run homer, proving that Cora once again pushed the right button. In Cora we trust. Still, it would have been exciting to see Devers try to tack on at least one more RBI before his birthday.
Cora didn’t stick with him in that particular spot but the manager showed a lot of faith in Devers by starting him against lefty Clayton Kershaw, bucking the platoon trend the Red Sox have followed for most of the postseason. Kershaw’s reverse splits may have been a factor, as the Dodgers ace has allowed a higher batting average, OPS and home run rate to left-handed hitters this season. It also helps that this game was at Fenway, where Devers has been able to stay back on breaking balls from lefties and loft hits off the Green Monster.
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The concern entering the postseason was how much playing time Devers would see if his poor defense made him a liability. Not only has he been solid at the hot corner, taking his run-producing bat out of the mix would be a liability to this lineup.