Rafael Devers’ ‘huge play’ in Red Sox win wasn’t even his ‘how!’ homer

NEW YORK — Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers blasted two homers, including one that left manager Alex Cora thinking, “I don’t know how you can do that.”

But the play he made at third base to end the eighth inning might have been his biggest highlight Sunday. Devers helped the Red Sox win 3-0 over the Yankees.

With a runner at first and two outs, Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu hit a soft grounder to the third base side of the mound. Devers charged, grabbed it barehanded and threw to first base for the final out, keeping it a 2-0 game.

“It was a huge play for me,” Devers said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “Obviously I wanted to make that play … because we know the top of the lineup was coming. So for me to be able to make that play and stop that rally was huge.”

Shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela added, “It was awesome. I saw the ground ball was slow so I didn’t know if he really had a chance. But he made a spectacular play so it’s awesome. It’s nice to see.”

Devers, Tanner Houck and Jarren Duran were named All-Stars before the game, then Devers brought the energy during Sunday Night Baseball.

“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 said. “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 connected on a 98.8 mph four-seam fastball from Yankees starter Luis Gil to break a scoreless tie in the seventh inning. He sent it 373 feet the opposite way to left field.

“He took the first-pitch fastball. He laid off a changeup. And then he was able to get to that pitch,” Cora said. “To go that way in this stadium is pretty impressive.”

But it was his 423-foot ninth inning homer to center field that left everyone scratching their heads.

MLB.com’s Sarah Langs noted on Twitter that the pitch “was 1.50 feet from the center of the plate, the 4th-furthest-outside pitch a LHB (left-handed batter) has homered off of under Statcast” dating back to 2015 and including the postseason. It was the furthest outside pitch Devers has homered against in his career, Langs added.

“The first one was impressive,” Cora said. “The second one, I saw the replay and I don’t know how you can do that. The pitch is way off the plate — and to barrel it.”

Devers connected on a 93.4 mph four-seam fastball from Michael Tonkin.

“The previous pitch was a fastball outside,” he said. “I know he doesn’t like to pitch inside so I was trying to make good contact. I know that the ball was a little bit off the plate but I was able to make good contact.”