Rafael Devers hit a pair of homers for the Red Sox to tie a career-high
Rafael Devers is well on his way to setting several career-highs in his fifth season with the Boston Red Sox. The third baseman met an important milestone on Sunday when he belted a pair of home runs to reach 32 for the season, matching the career-high in home runs that he set in 2019.
Devers put the Red Sox on the board in the first inning in Cleveland with a solo shot that traveled 371 feet to right field. He was given the green light to swing away on a 3-0 count and hammered a 93 mph four-seam fastball over the plate.
He tacked on an insurance run with another homer to lead off the seventh inning. Devers once again got ahead in the count with three consecutive balls before taking a called first strike. With the count still in his favor, Devers connected on an 88 mph cutter from reliever Blake Parker that was crushed 448 feet to right, his third-longest hit ball of the season.
It wasn’t enough to protect the Red Sox from their latest bullpen meltdown but don’t blame Devers for falling short of a sweep in Cleveland. He drove in a pair of runs to reach 96 RBI this season, which currently ranks second in the majors behind Chicago’s Jose Abreu (101).
It’s a safe bet that Devers will add at least one more homer to set a career-high in that category and his career-high 115 RBI from 2019 is also within reach.
This marked the ninth multi-home run game of his career, passing Ted Williams for the third-most by a Red Sox player before the age of 25. Devers won’t celebrate his 25th birthday until after the regular season, giving him time to potentially add another multi-homer game to tie Mookie Betts for second on that list. Catching Jim Rice (12) would be a tall task. Devers has three multi-homer games this season and would need three more in the 30 remaining games to tie the franchise record for players under 25.
Devers sputtered through a mini-slump that began during the trip to the Bronx earlier this month. He went four straight games without a hit, six games without an RBI and nine without a home run. His bat has been heating up over the last week with four multi-hit games in his last seven to go along with three homers and seven RBI during that span.
Devers is having an outstanding season that should put him on the brink of the MVP conversation. Boston’s bullpen continues to be a source of frustration but despite their flaws, the Red Sox should remain in contention for a playoff spot down the stretch in large part due to the production from Devers.