BOSTON — The hits just keep on coming for the Red Sox.
Their worst loss in 99 years, a 28-5 defeat to the Blue Jays on Friday night, came with another costly price. Rafael Devers suffered a right hamstring injury, and the All-Star third baseman on Saturday was placed on the 10-day injured list. The injury was officially described as right hamstring inflammation.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Devers felt his hamstring hurting after his final at-bat of the night in the fifth inning, saying the third baseman said a swing caused discomfort. But Cora said he noticed Devers running gingerly on his double in the first inning.
“If you see him running the bases on the first one, the double, he didn’t look too good rounding first,” Cora said. “I guess he kept grinding. There was a swing and he grabbed it. I was like oh, are you OK? He’s like, nah.”
Devers missed a couple of games earlier this month with soreness in his back and right hamstring, then reaggravated the back injury when he ran into a dugout railing chasing a foul ball on July 9 against the Yankees before missing the rest of that series. Devers returned on July 12, played every game before the break and then played in the All-Star Game in Los Angeles without any issues.
“We talked to him in New York about the All-Star Game, all that stuff and he played in New York,” Cora said. “I know he didn’t play the last two games, the whole nine, but he was feeling good. He felt good in LA. No complaints the night before yesterday. Probably it’s related, but it’s something that happened yesterday and we have to be proactive on this one.”
Devers’ injury is the latest and biggest blow to date for a struggling Red Sox team that’s been ravaged by injuries this month. J.D. Martinez was scratched from Friday’s lineup with back spasms and didn’t return Saturday, and the Red Sox have 13 other players on the injured list — including Chris Sale, Trevor Story and Kiké Hernandez.
The injuries, coupled with the poor play on the field, couldn’t be coming at a worse time either as the Red Sox — who are battling to hang on in the wild-card race — face a crucial stretch leading into the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
“We had one of those fire drills last year, with COVID,” Cora said. “We just have to keep grinding. The guys that we have today, we have to find a way to score runs and play good defense and play good baseball. It’s not easy, obviously, but at the end of the day like I said in Tampa, nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. You just have to keep going, keep grinding, keep playing and you have to do a good job.”
