The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, June 26, 2019 * the Boston Globe
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The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, June 26, 2019 * The Boston Globe Despite the rain, Rafael Devers shines for Red Sox Alex Speier A few years ago, a loaded Red Sox farm system inspired passionate disagreement about the pecking order at the top of its prospect lists. Yoan Moncada’s five-tool potential screamed of a superstar’s ceiling. He was in the argument for the top prospect in all of baseball. So, too, was outfielder Andrew Benintendi, whose remarkable ability to put the barrel on the ball suggested a potential batting champion with the athleticism and instincts to play superb outfield defense. In their shadow resided Rafael Devers. Yet three years after he last played with Moncada in High-A Salem, it is Devers who is making a case as the first to arrive at stardom. The 22-year-old continued his emergence as one of the game’s elite hitters on Tuesday against Moncada’s White Sox, going 4 for 4 with three doubles while driving in one run and scoring twice in the Red Sox’ 6-3 victory over the White Sox. Two of Devers’s hits — one misplayed by the White Sox, one a legitimate rocket off the Wall for a single — were to left, one double clanged off the fence in center, and another two-bagger sizzled between outfielders in right- center. At an age (22) when he is still gaining strength, Devers is scorching the ball to all fields in a fashion matched by few hitters in the big leagues, a notion embodied by his major league-leading 125 balls put in play with exit velocities of at least 95 miles per hour — the balls typically hit with such force as to yield the highest chances of extra-base hits. He is a line-to-line force against righties and lefties, right now not merely emerging as a power hitter but the most complete compared with Benintendi, Moncada, and many others. With Tuesday’s four-hit effort, Devers is hitting .317 with an .889 OPS. Devers, batting second with Benintendi getting a breather, helped to jump-start the Red Sox offense in the first inning against a White Sox team that opted to employ a quartet of pitchers for two innings each. The Red Sox went on the attack early and did not let up. Mookie Betts led off the bottom of the first with an infield single against Carson Fulmer and advanced to second on an errant throw from shortstop Tim Anderson. Betts raced home when Devers hit a fly ball down the left-field line that rookie Eloy Jimenez misplayed into a double. The lead proved short-lived, thanks to some defensive miscues from Xander Bogaerts in the next two innings. The shortstop’s throwing error on a grounder by leadoff man James McCann led to an unearned run off David Price in the second. And in the third, after the White Sox took a 2-1 lead with a pair of doubles, a two-out grounder by Jimenez skidded off the wet infield dirt and under the glove of Bogaerts for what was ruled an RBI single. But as they did three times after falling behind in Monday’s walkoff win, the Red Sox returned serve, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the third on a bases-loaded, two-out single to left by Christian Vazquez that evened the game at 3-3. Two innings later, Bogaerts made up for any misdeeds by following a Devers leadoff double against Jose Ruiz with a two-run rocket to left-center, the shortstop’s 15th homer of the year, which gave the Red Sox a 5-3 lead. With that round-tripper, Bogaerts took the American League lead for extra-base hits with 42 — and also tied for the second- most by a Red Sox shortstop through 81 games in at least the last 100 years. Once again entrusted with a lead, Red Sox starter David Price concluded his outing with a scoreless sixth inning, the end of a night in which he once again demonstrated tremendous command of a diverse arsenal. Price allowed three runs (two earned) while scattering eight hits, walking none, and striking out nine. The lefthander lowered his ERA to 3.36. On a night when he featured a wipeout changeup as a frequent and outstanding complement to his two- and four-seam fastballs, he coaxed 17 swings and misses from a White Sox lineup that was ready to hack. The Red Sox tacked on an insurance run with an Eduardo Nunez sacrifice fly in the sixth, increasing their advantage to 6-3. That proved plenty for the Red Sox bullpen, which breezed through three scoreless innings. Matt Barnes (walk, two strikeouts) contributed a scoreless seventh, followed by Ryan Brasier (two strikeouts and a single) in the eighth, and finally Brandon Workman (two strikeouts and a double), who worked a scoreless ninth for his third save. Red Sox pitchers struck out 15 batters and walked just one, helping their team to its most comfortable victory of a homestand that concludes on Wednesday afternoon. Halfway through the season, the Red Sox have struck out 15 batters on 10 occasions, most in the majors. Steven Wright returns to Red Sox under cloud of suspension Peter Abraham Chris Sale walked by going to his locker as Steven Wright stood in the center of the Red Sox clubhouse on Tuesday taking questions from reporters about his return to the team following an 80-game suspension after a positive test for a synthetic drug that promotes the production of human growth hormone. Sale was wearing a gray T-shirt that read “All Me” on the front and “Train Hard. Eat Right. Play Fair.” on the back. The Taylor Hooton Foundation, which was founded to discourage the use of performance-enhancing drugs by young athletes, produced the shirt, and you see it fairly often in clubhouses. Sale, Dustin Pedroia, and Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw are among the 32 major leaguers on the foundation’s advisory staff. Sale wears that particular T-shirt, or one like it, every day, so he was not trying to make a point on Tuesday. But the lefthander said in March that Wright’s suspension reflected badly on the team. Rick Porcello made similar comments. Wright addressed the team at the time of his suspension, then essentially disappeared, the Sox taking away his locker in the major league clubhouse and sending him to minor league camp. Now Wright is back on the roster and is expected to play a significant role in propping up the battered bullpen. It could get uncomfortable. “Obviously it’s not easy,” manager Alex Cora said. “It’s a topic. But everybody goes about their business the way they always do.” Wright, to his credit, took on all questions for seven minutes. He said he apologized to the team in March for causing a distraction. “I needed to talk to them and it was one probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Wright said. Wright could help the Sox if his left knee remains stable. The knuckleballer gave up one earned run over 13⅔ innings in relief appearances last September. He also pitched well in five games for Triple A Pawtucket this month. The plan is to use him in relief rather than risk his knee for five or more innings as a starter. Under the rules of his suspension, Wright would not be eligible for the postseason. But the Sox have to get there first for that to be an issue. Wright continues to deny he knowingly took a banned drug and claimed he “has some ideas” what happened without providing details. “I didn’t want to dig into it too much because at the same time I wasn’t going to find out,” he said. “There’s no reason for me to keep my concentration on that. I just wanted to move on.” Wright certainly fits the profile of a player desperate enough to break the rules. He’s a 34-year-old who had pitched only 25 games the previous two seasons because of injuries and is eligible for salary arbitration. Now he’s out $568,000 in salary and whatever the cost is for a permanently damaged reputation. “It falls on me,” Wright said. “I wasn’t as careful as I should be.” Wright should be out of second chances with the Sox at this point. He was arrested for domestic violence in December 2017 and served a 15-game suspension the following season. That’s 95 games of suspension time in two years. “It’s actually been humbling, to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s obviously been hard, the stuff last year with the domestic violence and this year with the PED stuff. But it just made me get a lot closer to my family. That’s who I leaned on the most throughout this whole process. “It made me not take anything for granted. It’s stuff that you never think you’re going to experience and by doing it, it’s like you almost have to take a step back and be like, man, I’ve really got to cherish the times that I do have the clubhouse because just that quickly it can be taken away.” Michael Chavis, who started at first base on Tuesday, was suspended 80 games last season when he tested positive for steroid use. He also denied it. The Red Sox also have righthander Jenrry Mejia, who tested positive three times while playing for the Mets, on their Triple A roster.