Gerrit Cole held up four fingers on his pitching hand and pointed to first base while Rafael Devers looked on in surprise. Despite having kept the first 10 Red Sox batters from getting a hit, the Yankees’ ace decided to intentionally walk Boston’s struggling star with no runners on base.
After that decision, the Red Sox took advantage and scored against Cole and the Yankees.
Devers scored during a three-run fourth inning and then hit a two-run single in a four-run fifth inning, leading the Red Sox to a 7-1 win over New York on Saturday.
“They grabbed the momentum. It inspired them,” Cole said. “I think, looking back, it’s the wrong move.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone mentioned that he and Cole had talked before the game about using intentional walks more aggressively—something Cole hadn’t done in seven years.
Cole discussed the idea with pitching coach Matt Blake in the tunnel before the fourth inning, thinking it might help the starter go deeper into the game on a day when the Yankees’ bullpen was short on arms.
Yankees catcher Austin Wells was not informed about this strategy. “I was a bit caught off guard,” Wells said. “Thought he had some good momentum.”
Wells didn’t consider trying to get Cole to change his mind. “We’re just kidding. We don’t actually walk him,” Wells suggested. “I don’t know if that’s a thing.”
Cole and Boone both took a longer than usual time before speaking with reporters after the game. “Just a rough day,” Cole said.
Cole (6-5) allowed seven runs, which is the most he’s given up since June 9, 2022. He also hit a career-high three batters and left the game after 4 1/3 innings.
“He caught me by surprise,” Devers said through a translator. “I didn’t expect that from a future Hall of Famer and I feel like he panicked a little bit.”
Cole retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, letting the only batter to reach base by hitting Devers with a cutter in the first inning.
“I felt like the first at-bat he hit him on purpose,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He doesn’t want to face him. That’s the bottom line. He told us with the intentional walk that the first at-bat he hit him.”
At the time Cole chose to intentionally walk Devers, the Yankees were ahead 1-0 thanks to Gleyber Torres’ RBI single in the third inning.
“Once we scored the run my preference would have been let’s attack them. But, obviously, I didn’t communicate that well enough,” Boone said.
After the intentional walk, 10 of the next 12 batters reached base against Cole, who won the AL Cy Young Award in 2023.
“It was just odd,” Boston’s Triston Casas said of Cole’s decision.
Devers had previously been 14 for 41 (.316) with eight home runs and 15 strikeouts against Cole, including in the postseason.
“Obviously, Raffy’s had some success against him, something that he’s also got to get through, too, making sure he understands, hey, the next 40 or 50 at-bats in my career against him I might have massive success because I’m Gerrit Cole,” Boone said. “But there is a psychological component to all that.”
Devers stole second base and Masataka Yoshida then hit an RBI double into the left-field corner for Boston’s first hit, tying the game at 1.
Wilyer Abreu followed with a two-run single to give the Red Sox a 3-1 lead, and Casas grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“If I make pitches after that and I continue to execute at a high level, then the plan works,” Cole said. “But evidently the plan didn’t work. So I need to make better pitches afterwards in order for it to work.”
New York’s earliest instances of bases-empty intentional walks had been in the sixth inning: to the Philadelphia Athletics’ Al Simmons by Roy Sherid leading off on September 22, 1930, and to Washington’s Frank Howard by Fritz Peterson with two outs on April 22, 1970.
Trevor Story singled to start the fifth inning and stole second base. Danny Jansen walked, and Enmanuel Valdez flew out while Story advanced to third.
Jarren Duran was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Devers hit a knuckle-curve into right field for a 5-1 lead. Tyler O’Neill was also hit by a pitch, and Yoshida hit a two-run single that chased Cole from the game.
