BOSTON — On a night when the Boston Red Sox dropped a crucial game in 12 innings to the Minnesota Twins, further burying their miniscule postseason hopes, even more ominous news emerged.
Third baseman Rafael Devers exited the game in the top of the 11th inning and is scheduled to get an MRI on his right shoulder Saturday. Manager Alex Cora suggested Devers’ season might be over.
“We’ll see where we’re at,” Cora said after the 4-2 loss to the Twins. “Probably this is it for him.”
With eight games left in the season and Boston five games back of the third wild-card spot in the American League, there’s little reason to push Devers, who’s battled injuries to both shoulders on and off all season.
Before Friday’s game, Cora said Devers hadn’t mentioned his shoulders bothering him in a while and that his prolonged slump at the plate had been more about mechanical adjustments.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen this,” Cora said of Devers’ struggles. “I think him not hitting the ball to left-center tells me that mechanically, there’s something off. He hasn’t mentioned the shoulders in a while.”
But after the game was a different story. Cora said Devers tweaked his shoulder on a swing in the batting cage shortly before game time and tried to play. He managed a single to left but struck out three times, and his throws to first and second base were off target, pulling the fielders off the bag.
“You saw him throwing today, it was bothering him,” Cora said. “When he hit inside (in the batting cages), he felt it.”
Since Aug. 21, Devers is hitting .167 with 29 strikeouts and one home run.
The injury added more insult to an already rough night for the Red Sox.
With the Twins holding on to the third wild-card spot for dear life, the Red Sox had a chance this weekend to gain ground with one week left in the regular season. In other words, it was a must-win game for their dwindling postseason hopes.
Instead, the Red Sox struck out 20 times, tying a franchise record from 1974 and 2001. It marked the 83rd game this season the Red Sox have registered 10 or more strikeouts.
“It’s kind of hard to believe at this point that this is the way we’re playing offensively,” shortstop Trevor Story said. “It’s hard to imagine because I know the type of guys we have, the type of hitters we have. But we’re in a funk right now that we can’t shake.”
All 14 Ks from the bullpen 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/rRKDbF2r95
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 21, 2024
It was a game that seemingly neither side wanted to win in a three-hour, 58-minute affair. The Twins left 15 men on base, the Red Sox left 17. The Red Sox were 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
“Plenty of chances,” Cora said. “We didn’t cash in. Plenty of strikeouts.”
Boston pushed across a run in the fourth after Tyler O’Neill walked and later scored on a Story RBI single. The Twins tied the score off reliever Chris Martin in the seventh when Martin allowed two one-out singles to open the inning before a groundout that appeared to be a double-play ball to third to end the inning. But Devers’ throw to second was wide of the bag, and the Red Sox only managed one out as the tying run scored.
For the next four innings, the Red Sox and Twins, tied 1-1, wasted chance after chance to score the winning run.
In the ninth, Jarren Duran got on base, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. But Devers and O’Neill struck out. After getting to a 3-1 count on Triston Casas, the Twins intentionally walked him to face Wilyer Abreu, who struck out for the team’s 17th punch-out of the night, which had been their season high.
In the 10th, Connor Wong bunted automatic runner Abreu to third and Story walked, but Romy Gonzalez, who’d entered the game for Devers, hit a tapper to the mound and Twins pitcher Louie Varland threw home to get Abreu out. Ceddanne Rafaela struck out to end the inning.
Red Sox pitching continued to shut down the Twins, but the Red Sox offense had little to show. After Martin allowed the run in the seventh, Lucas Sims, Kenley Jansen, Josh Winckowski and Greg Weissert all pitched scoreless innings.
In the 11th, with Rafaela on third and one out, O’Neill and Casas struck out.
Finally in the 12th, as the Red Sox turned to long man Cooper Criswell, the Twins led off with a single before a tapper to the mound that glanced off Criswell’s glove scoring the automatic runner with the go-ahead run. The Twins added two more on a single and sacrifice fly.
The Red Sox scored one run in the 12th, but by then the game was over.
“From our end, we consider ourselves a good offensive team, and lately we haven’t been,” Cora said. “The numbers are right there. We had plenty of chances. It just didn’t happen.”
The lone bright spot on an otherwise dreadful night was rookie Richard Fitts, who pitched five scoreless innings, allowing five hits and a walk, striking out three. He became the first pitcher in Red Sox history to pitch five-plus innings without allowing an earned run in his first three career starts. Only one other pitcher in the modern era has done that, Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott in 2023.
Before the game, the Red Sox lost another bat in their lineup with Rob Refsnyder heading to the 10-day injury list with a right-forearm strain. The team recalled Vaughn Grissom from Triple-A Worcester for the first time since June 1.
The Red Sox will know more about the severity of Devers’ shoulder injury Saturday, but the outlook for him — and for the Red Sox’s season — doesn’t look good.
(Photo of Triston Casas after his 11th-inning strikeout, his third of the game: Brian Fluharty / Imagn Images)
