Yankees Ace Gerrit Cole Ripped by Red Sox Manager Over Handling of Star

Getty Yankees ace Gerrit Cole

Not much went right for the Yankees on Saturday in their matchup against the Red Sox, a 7-1 loss in which starter Gerrit Cole did not make it out of the fifth inning and allowed seven earned runs, the most he’s allowed since June 2022. But for Cole, the outing proved to be especially rough thanks to his handling of Red Sox star Rafael Devers.

And Devers’ manager, Alex Cora, let him know it.

In the game, Cole hit Devers with a pitch in the first inning, then intentionally walked him next time he faced him, in the fourth. The HBP was harmless, because Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill followed with a double-play ball, but the intentional walk was costly. O’Neill followed with a walk and Devers scored on the next play, when Masataka Yoshida knocked a double.

“I felt like the first at-bat he hit him on purpose,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, via Boston.com. “He doesn’t want to face him. That’s the bottom line. He told us with the intentional walk that the first at-bat he hit him. Second pitch of the game against Rafy, you see it. It was intentional. I’m not going to back up.”

Gerrit Cole Has Been Hit Hard by Rafael Devers

Devers, for his part, was surprised by the intentional walk, which came with no one on base and one out in the inning—hardly the time one would expect to be walked.

“He caught me by surprise,” Devers said. “I didn’t expect that from a future Hall of Famer and I feel like he panicked a little bit.”

If Cole panicked, or if he was afraid of Devers, he did have good reason for it. In his career, Devers has hit Cole hard, and in the fifth inning, with the bases loaded, Devers nailed a deep single off Cole that scored two runs. That brought Devers’ career average against Cole to .350, with eight home runs and 20 RBIs in 40 at-bats.

Devers has an OPS of 1.410 against Cole in his career.

Cole explained after the game that walking Devers was part of the team’s approach.

“We had discussed the days prior to and during the game, strategically, walking him because of the past success that he’s had,” he told reporters. “If I make pitches after that and I continue to execute at a high level, then the plan works. But evidently, the plan didn’t work. I need to make better pitches afterward in order for it to work.”

Yankees Have Concerns About Their Ace

Manager Aaron Boone tried to share the blame for the Devers fiasco after the game.

“Obviously, Raffy’s had some success against him,” Boone said, via The Athletic. “It’s something that he’s also got to get through, too, like making sure he understands that, ‘The next 40 or 50 at-bats in my career against him, I might have massive success because I’m Gerrit Cole.’ But there’s a psychological component to all that.”

The bigger issue for the Yankees, though, is Cole, who has come back from an arm injury and looked sharp at times, but has been shaky at other times. He is 6-5 with a 3.97 ERA, his highest ERA since 2017 when he was with the Pirates.

Control has been an issue, as he has walked 3.1 batters per nine innings, the highest rate of his career.

Cole should get two more starts this season before the playoffs hit, and he is expected to be the Yankees Game 1 starter.