Red Sox, Rafael Devers Shocked By Gerrit Cole's Free Pass: 'He Panicked A Little Bit'

We're all still scratching our heads over this one!

Sep 14, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers (11) high fives right fielder Wilyer Abreu (52) after defeating the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox rightfully couldn't believe their eyes.

The defending American League Cy Young Award winner, Gerrit Cole, was on the mound. The New York Yankees, ahead of the Red Sox by 12 games in the standings, had a 1-0 lead. And Rafael Devers, the hitter in the box, was eight for his last 50 without a home run.

But Cole's battle scars against Devers from previous matchups were too memorable for the righty to bear giving up another longball. That's when he issued one of the most unprecedented, cowardly intentional walks of all time.

By sending Devers to first base with no one on and one out in the top of the fourth inning, Cole galvanized a sleepwalking Boston lineup. He gave up seven earned runs in the next 11 batters faced, and didn't make it out of the fifth inning.

But after the game, rather than satisfaction, Devers' and the Red Sox's reactions were those of utter bewilderment.

"He caught me by surprise," Devers said through the team interpreter (via Associated Press). "I didn't expect that from a future Hall of Famer and I feel like he panicked a little bit."

Devers wasn't the only Red Sox player floored by Cole's decision.

"I don't know what to tell you," Bello said through the same interpreter, per MLB.com's Ian Browne. "I felt like it showed a lot of weakness."

"It was just odd," first baseman Triston Casas said.

And odd it was. According to ESPN Research, Cole's free pass was the earliest in a game any batter has been intentionally walked with the bases empty and less than two outs since Barry Bonds in August of 2002.

Cole also hadn't walked any batter intentionally in the regular season since 2017, when he was still on his rookie contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Devers has tormented Cole throughout his career, as he is now 15-for-42 with eight home runs and a ridiculous 1.410 OPS. But he's also been playing on two hurt shoulders for months now, and for the past four weeks, his season stats have taken a nosedive, due in part to his diminished bat speed.

Walking Devers in that situation was unconscionable from a pitcher who purports to be one of the best of his generation. Can you imagine Pedro Martínez or Randy Johnson holding up his own four fingers to put Bonds on base back in the early 2000s?

So although Cole is headed to the playoffs and Devers is likely not, the Dominican slugger has one thing over Cole that will likely carry over into their future matchups: pure psychological torment.

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