Pedroia avoids ejection, but knee remains a question mark; Devers goes deep again

In this era of video replay and challenges, arguments with umpires are almost a thing of the past, but in the final game of their season, the Red Sox had themselves a big one Monday.

In the second inning, with the bases loaded and one out, Dustin Pedroia was rung up on a called third strike by home plate umpire Mark Wegner and made his displeasure well-known.

“I just know in my first at-bat, he gave me a fastball off the plate away – a lot off – so I was under the assumption that you’re not going to give in off the plate,’’ said Pedroia. “But it’s part of the game. Obviously, you’re trying to compete and (Houston starter Charlie Morton) has good stuff, so it makes it difficult to compete when you’re trying to cover that much (of the plate).’’

Quickly, things escalated between Wegner and Pedroia, and John Farrell dashed from the dugout in order to prevent his second baseman from being ejected in a must-win game.

Unsurprisingly, Farrell himself got run, but to him, it was a necessary tradeoff.

“I went out to get Pedey away from Mark Wegner,’’ recounted Farrell. “Obviously, it was a key moment. Pedey obviously disagreed with the call that was made. I did not argue balls and strikes, so that was a little surprising when I was ejected at that point. For whatever reason, he felt like…there was nothing derogatory or directed straight at him. I never argued balls and strikes.

“It was a really quick hook. The reason he gave me is, ‘I’m not going to have you stand here and yell at me.’ I said I’m trying to get my player away from him. It was more important to me that Pedey remain in the game and rest took care of itself.’’

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Pedroia dealt with a left knee injury for much of the season and had two stints on the DL. He faces some additional rehab, a possible surgical procedure and some tough decisions this winter.

“I don’t know yet,’’ said Pedroia. “I’ve got to go get checked out (Tuesday) and then go from there. I’m going to go talk to the doctors about (the options). Obviously, we had to try to find a way to do what we did so I could be out there.

“If you were to get it fixed, the recovery is a long time. I have a lot of things to weigh with the doctors and figure it out.’’

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The first postseason for Rafael Devers was an impressive one. He hit a mammoth homer off lefty Francisco Liriano in Game 3 that helped key the only Red Sox win and in Monday’s Game 4, opened the ninth inning by hitting an inside-the-park homer.

Devers drove a pitch from closer Ken Giles high off the wall, and as center fielder George Springer went over to field the ball, the carom sent it careening back toward center. Left fielder Marwin Gonzalez hurried over but by the time he was relaying the ball to the infield, Devers was rounding third base.

“Looking at (third base coach Brian Butterfield), he waved me around,’’ said Devers. “Then, when I looked back and saw no one was near the ball, I knew I was going to score standing up. I knew I was going to get there.’’

It was the 17th inside-the-park homer in postseason history and the first to come in the ninth inning. It was the first one hit in the post-season by a rookie and the first Red Sox inside-the-park homer by anyone at any time since Blake Swihart hit one on Aug. 28, 2015, against the New York Mets.