The Red Sox are now getting more from Rafael Devers.
The 26-year-old has seemingly snapped out of his funk, belting four home runs in his last five games. He had a pair, including a two-run blast to pull within one in the bottom of the 10th, in Boston's 7-6 loss in extras to the Rockies, their second in a row, after one in their three-game set in New York.
“Right now, I'm trying to be consistent with my time and apply my timing," Devers said via a translator. "I’ve been working really hard with Louis [Ortiz] and the other hitting coaches in the cage. I've been feeling really well, really good in the past two series. I just need to keep getting better and keep improving over the coming days.”
In addition to the four blasts, Devers is hitting .300 (6-for-20) with six RBI. The numbers would be even better had it not been for Nolan Jones robbing Devers of a would-be go-ahead tank late in Monday's loss.
It's all coming after a dismal stretch from mid-May to mid-June. In his previous 15 games prior to these last five, he was batting a meek .193 (11-for-57) with a .246 slugging. Ahead of this streak, it was even worse in the previous seven, which was his coldest stretch with a .160 average and slugging with two RBI. Before his home run in New York on Friday, Devers hadn't sent one into the seats since May 19.
"He's taking great at-bats, hitting the ball all over the place," Justin Turner said. "Robbed of the homer yesterday, which could have been three in two days. Had a really nice play made on him in New York, so could have had a few more RBI. He's swinging the bat really well."
Even with the resurgence of their franchise slugger, the Red Sox are still stuck in neutral, going 2-3 in that five-game span. Tuesday was the first time Boston had topped three runs in a week, going back to a 5-4 win in Cleveland on June 6.
While the offense, overall, was improved, it still wasn't enough to carry the Sox to a win and a chance to take their series against the Rockies.
“Just got to keep grinding. At one point, it’s going to go the other way,” Alex Cora said. "Keep playing hard, keep cleaning up a few things, and go from there."
Whether it be due to let-downs from Kutter Crawford and Justin Garza or a lack of clutch hitting from the rest of the lineup, Boston (once again) couldn't find a way to pull out a victory without absolutely everything coming together, despite six runs to show for their efforts.
“I mean, it’s baseball," Turner said. “There’s going to be ups and downs, but obviously, you show up every day to win every single game and we know that over a 162-game season, we’re not going to win them all. But, as long as we can put ourselves in a position to win as many of those games we can and give ourselves a chance every time. We go home tonight and shake it off and come back and try to win a game tomorrow.”
The Sox went a paltry 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine stuck on the base paths in total (two with two outs).
Boston came up empty with multiple chances to take the lead in the seventh, which ended with an Adam Duvall groundout with the bases juiced. Boston had a chance again to take the lead in the eighth after a Triston Casas walk and a pair of pinch-running steals for Jarren Duran. A pair of lineouts and a groundout threw cold water on any chances of Duran scoring. Duran again worked a walk and got himself into scoring position in the bottom of the 10th, but weak at-bats from Christian Arroyo and Reese McGuire put a swift end to the rally.
"We're just falling a run short from winning a ballgame," Turner said. "Did a nice job battling back from being down four runs. We give up three in the 10th. ... [Devers and Duran] gave us a chance to tie it back up and take the lead again. Just didn't get that big hit, that last big hit."
All of it came after the Sox had fallen into a seemingly miles-deep hole – given the state of the offense entering the game – when Crawford struggled out of the gate, failing to execute and leaving the game with a 4-0 deficit. Corey Kluber, Joe Jacques and Chris Martin held it down, only for Garza to blow up in the extra frame.
It was once again a classic case of one step forward, two steps backward for the 2023 Boston Red Sox, who have now dropped three of four series. They're two games below .500, overall, and now below .500 at home.
Still, Cora sees a light at the end of the tunnel.
“From my end, no [it’s not deflating after winning the Yankees series]. Just got to play well. That’s it," Cora said. "Two extra-inning games, it’s kind of like the flip of the coin. … Obviously yesterday, we didn’t play well, and today we played O.K. We played better. We didn’t pitch the way we’ve been pitching lately, but from my end, it’s not deflating.”