The Boston Red Sox are on a roll heading into the All-Star break, as they picked up a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals in their final game before the festivities. Once again, Rafael Devers played a big role for the Sox in the win, as he crushed a two-run homer in the first inning that gave his team a lead they would not relinquish. However, Devers' latest feat with this homer ended up shocking his manager Alex Cora.
Devers hitting home runs in bunches isn't exactly a new development, but this particular one saw the star third baseman do something that rarely ever gets done. Devers hit the ball so hard that the ball ended up breaking the seat in right field that it landed on. When informed of this, Cora had a simple response to the slugger's crazy accomplishment (if you want to call it that.)
“The kid is locked in. Just take care of him this week. He's not going to Texas for a good reason, right. He wants to be ready for the second part, getting treatment during the week and keeping healthy.” – Alex Cora, ESPN
Alex Cora hoping Rafael Devers has strong second half for Red Sox
With a 53-42 record, the Red Sox have been one of the biggest surprises in the majors this season. They head into the All-Star break holding a two-game lead over the Royals for the third and final wild card spot in the American League, and they are only 4.5 games out of first place in the crowded AL East.
While tons of players have unexpectedly stepped up and starred for Boston, Devers has been ol' reliable for them. While he won't be participating in the festivities, Devers earned the third All-Star berth of his career, and he is on pace to put up some of the biggest numbers of his career (.295 BA, 23 HR, 61 RBI, .977 OPS).
Devers has been extremely impressive for the Sox this season, and it's gotten to the point where he is literally destroying Fenway Park because of how hard he's hitting the ball. The team won't be too upset to have to fix all of the things Devers is breaking, though, so long as he keeps slugging the ball at the rate he's been doing so far this year.
Cora knows just how important Devers is to Boston's success, which is why he's probably thrilled he's choosing to rest up over the All-Star break in an effort to continue raking in the second half of the season. The Red Sox have been on a roll for quite some time now, and if Devers can keep on breaking seats with his impressive home runs, you should expect to see them on the field come playoff time.
