BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox placed third baseman Rafael Devers on the injured list Saturday with left shoulder inflammation, effectively ending his season.
Devers exited Friday’s game with right shoulder soreness and had an MRI on Saturday morning on both shoulders. When reporters met with manager Alex Cora before the game, the team did not yet have the results of the MRI, but Cora did not strike an optimistic tone.
“It doesn’t make sense to push him,” Cora said. “It’s always good to finish the season active, but just watching him and the way he’s been going about it, it’s likely the IL regardless.”
Devers has battled soreness and inflammation in each shoulder throughout the season. He aggravated his right shoulder on a swing in spring training, then injured his left shoulder on a diving play in Colorado just after the All-Star break. The 27-year-old never spent time on the injured list for either shoulder injury but did miss 16 games this season as the Red Sox managed his pain at certain points. He also missed a handful of games in the spring after a collision with Tyler O’Neill.
Cora said Devers hadn’t expressed anything about pain in either shoulder leading up to Friday, but his bat speed dropped and he admitted the pain had returned when he was working in the cage before Friday’s game trying a few mechanical adjustments.
“(The pain) was on and off, up and down for a while there, then nothing, then (Friday) got worse,” Cora said.
Cora appreciated Devers’ willingness to play through pain while the team fought for a postseason spot, but recognized at a certain point there were diminishing returns.
“I think Trevor (Story) said it best, to set an example, you have to play and that’s what you do as big leaguer,” Cora said. “You got to take pride in posting and the guy that really helped (Devers) with that was Xander (Bogaerts). He always found ways to play and that’s what he did.”
In 138 games this season, Devers hit .272 with an .870 OPS, 28 homers and 34 doubles. But since Aug. 21, he’d been in a dismal stretch, hitting just .167 with 29 strikeouts and one homer.
Devers made his third All-Star team this summer but opted not to play to rest his shoulders.
“Disappointed because he is basically our offense,” Cora said. “He is the guy. And just the last month it’s been hard to watch.”
To fill his spot on the roster, the Red Sox recalled infielder Mickey Gasper. Cora said Nick Sogard and Romy Gonzalez will split time at third baseman in Devers’ absence while Vaughn Grissom will see a majority of the time at second base over the final week or so of play.
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(Photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
