Watch: NYY pitcher wanted nothing to do with Rafael Devers

Rafael Devers. Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Watch: Yankees pitcher wanted nothing to do with Rafael Devers (and it backfired)

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Sep 14, 2024 4:36 PM ET

Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers has had so much success against Gerrit Cole throughout his career that New York Yankees fans have adopted the mindset of, "Why are we even pitching to him?"

On Saturday, during the Yankees' 7-1 loss, Cole decided to follow that logic.

In Devers' first at-bat in the top of the first inning, Cole hit him on the second pitch. It probably was not intentional, but was certainly one way to avoid having to pitch to him.

In Devers' second at-bat in the top of the fourth inning, Cole found another way to avoid pitching to him. He intentionally walked him, with one out, in a 1-0 game, in the top of the fourth inning.

Gerrit Cole shows Rafael Devers the ultimate sign of respect and intentionally walks him with the bases empty pic.twitter.com/XQzIc2DrrO
— MLB (@MLB) September 14, 2024

It also appeared to be Cole making the decision.

Gerrit Cole Intentionally Walking Devers...

And Devers' reaction. pic.twitter.com/0FZG164uzn
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 14, 2024

That is the sort of decision that was most commonly made with a player like prime-era Barry Bonds, and perhaps at times Yankees slugger Aaron Judge this season.

Cole's decision did not work out well for him as Devers ended up scoring two batters later as part of a three-run Red Sox inning to help swing the game in their favor.

Devers added an RBI single in the fifth inning off of Cole to extend the Red Sox lead.

The driving force behind this storyline is the fact that Devers has dominated the head-to-head matchup against Cole. Entering play on Saturday, Devers was 14-for-41 (.341 average) with eight home runs and a 1.389 OPS in his career against Cole.

Pitching to him, clearly, has not worked. On Saturday, pitching around him did not seem to work, either.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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