Gerrit Cole's targeted walk by Rafael Devers inspires the Red Sox

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole extended four fingers of his throwing hand, then pointed toward first base as Rafael Devers watched in disbelief. After holding the first 10 Red Sox batters hitless, the New York Yankees star allowed Boston's flagging star an intentional walk when no one was on base.

Boston then overran Cole and the Yankees.

Devers scored three runs in the fourth inning and hit a two-run single in the fifth inning for four runs, lifting the Red Sox to a 7-1 victory over New York on Saturday.

“They took advantage of the momentum. It inspired them,” Cole said. “Looking back, I think it was the wrong move.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he and Cole had discussed leading up to the game being more aggressive with intentional walks – Cole hadn't allowed one in seven years. Cole said he discussed that possibility with pitching coach Matt Blake in the tunnel before the fourth inning, seeing it as a way to get the starter deeper into the game on a day when the Yankees' bullpen was thin.

Yankees catcher Austin Wells was not informed of the plan.

“I was a little surprised,” he said. “I thought he had a good swing.”

Wells said he had no intention of getting Cole to reverse his decision.

“I'm just kidding. We're not really taking him for a walk,” Wells suggested. “I don't know if that's true.”

Both Cole and Boone took an unusually long time before speaking to reporters after the game.

“Just a tough day,” Cole said.

Cole (6-5) allowed seven runs, his most since June 9, 2022. He struck out a career high three batters and left the field after 4⅓ innings.

Saturday was the first time a Yankees pitcher intentionally walked a batter with the bases empty and fewer than two outs since intentional walks became official in 1955, according to ESPN Research.

“He surprised me,” Devers said through an interpreter. “I didn't expect that from a future Hall of Famer, and I feel like he panicked a little bit.”

Cole struck out nine of his first 10 batters and allowed his only batter to reach the first inning when he hit Devers with a cutter.

“I felt like he hit him on purpose on the first pitch,” 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 he hit him on purpose on the first pitch.”

At the time of the intentional walk, the Yankees were leading 1-0 thanks to Gleyber Torres' RBI single in the third inning.

“After we scored the point, I would have preferred to attack them. But obviously I didn't communicate that well enough,” Boone said.

Starting with the intentional walk, 10 of 12 batters reached first base against the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner.

“It was just weird,” Boston’s Triston Casas said of Cole’s decision.

Devers came into the game 14-for-41 (.316) with eight home runs and 15 strikeouts against Cole, including the postseason. His career OPS of 1.410 against Cole is the fourth-highest among players with at least 10 batting appearances against Cole, according to ESPN Research.

“Raffy obviously had some success against him, but he has to go through that too, to understand that in the next 40 or 50 at-bats of my career, I might have great success against him because I'm Gerrit Cole,” Boone said. “But there's a psychological component to it too.”

Devers stole second base and Masataka Yoshida hit an RBI double to the left outfield for Boston's first hit, tying the score at 1-1. Wilyer Abreu followed with a two-run single to make it 3-1 and Casas hit an inning-ending double play.

“If I continue to make suggestions after that and continue to execute at a high level, then the plan will work,” Cole said. “But obviously the plan didn't work. So I have to make better suggestions after that to make it work.”

According to ESPN Research, the fourth inning marks the first time in a game that a batter was intentionally stopped by a walk with the bases empty and fewer than two outs since Barry Bonds on August 10, 2002 against the Pirates. Bonds was also stopped by a walk in the fourth inning when his team was trailing 1-0.

The first intentional empty-base walks for New York occurred in the sixth inning: on September 22, 1930, against Al Simmons of the Philadelphia Athletics by Roy Sherid as leadoff player, and on April 22, 1970, against Frank Howard of Washington by Fritz Peterson with two outs.

Trevor Story singled and stole second base in the fifth inning Saturday, Danny Jansen drew a walk and Enmanuel Valdez flied out as Story reached third base. Jarren Duran was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Devers hit a knuckle curve to right for a 5-1 lead. Tyler O'Neill was hit by a pitch, and Yoshida chased Cole with a two-run single.

“Obviously, because it backfired a little bit, we all wish we could do certain things differently,” Boone said. “But ultimately, we didn't do anything when we had the opportunity, and that hurt us today.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.