Rafael Devers and the Red Sox had the perfect first-inning response to former teammate Alex Verdugo, who swung his bat wildly and slowly circled the bases after hitting a two-run homer in the third inning on Saturday.
Even though Verdugo and the Yankees had the last laugh with a 14-4 victory at the stadium.
Devers gave Boston the lead with a home run of his own an inning later, and as he slowly rounded the bases, he appeared to be gesturing toward left fielder Verdugo.
Devers later claimed he raised his arms as he passed second base because he was celebrating with his teammates in the bullpen.
“Obviously it was a big blow to us. We had the advantage in that moment. At the same time, they’ve done this to us before, so nobody can be mad at the reaction. That’s baseball,” Devers said after the game through a translator. “It wasn’t directed at the other guy. [Verdugo]”That’s what we do with our bullpen. Everybody who hits a home run, we salute the bullpen. So it has nothing to do with him.”
Verdugo also had a strong game back at Fenway Park in June, hitting a home run and scoring four RBIs in his first game back at the park after being traded to the Bronx in the offseason.
After hitting a two-run homer to center field off Boston starter Josh Winckowski on Saturday, he noticeably turned his bat and spent 32 seconds circling the bases.
“I’m not too worried about it. He makes a lot of rollercoaster plays, but that’s the way he is,” Winckowski said of Verdugo.
“We saw that slow pace on our team and we didn’t care, right? We let them do it here,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora added. “If it’s OK with our team, it should be OK with other teams.”
“And if Raffy does it, they’ll be okay.”
Cora actually thought that Verdugo’s bunt hit in the fifth inning with the Yankees leading by five runs “changed the flow of the game.”
Devers’ 440-foot homer, his eighth in 39 at-bats against Yankees starter Gerrit Cole, turned the tide and gave Boston a 4-3 lead one inning earlier.
Cole glared at Devers as he walked past first base, but the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner said after the game, “As a pitcher, you don’t want to see them hit a home run, but you don’t want to see them hit a home run either.”
