Rafael Devers has been the Boston Red Sox's designated hitter all season after a fairly notable discussion during spring training about who would be the starting third baseman. Devers, who was the team's regular third baseman when healthy over the last six seasons, was replaced by Alex Bregman.
While that wasn't the outcome that Devers originally wanted, it has not affected him at the plate where he's leading the American League in RBI and walks while maintaining the 10th best OPS in baseball coming into Sunday's game against the New York Yankees.
And it's because this happened against the Yankees on ESPN that anyone not watching the NBA Finals on Sunday night probably saw him stop running as soon as a ground ball he hit was fielded by DJ LaMahieu.
Rafael Devers and Alex Cora after the ground out to end the inning #RedSox #DirtyWater pic.twitter.com/OwnWtoD8PK
— Lucasparmenter23 (@Lucasparmenter0) June 9, 2025
Alex Cora was waiting near the dugout steps to get an explanation for Devers hitting the brakes while he still appeared to have a chance to beat the throw. Odds are he still would have been out, but was running hard for one more second really too much to ask? Did he tweak something? These are the kinds of questions Alex Cora probably tried to ask as Devers hustled down the steps into the dugout.
Devers remained in the game, so whatever he said to the manager in passing must have been enough, even if Cora did continue to watch him walk across the dugout in what looked like amazement.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Alex Cora Appeared Shocked By Rafael Devers's Decision to Stop Running to First.
