Gerrit Cole was criticized by the Red Sox for intentionally walking Rafael Devers, with the team calling it a display of weakness.

Gerrit Cole, the ace of the New York Yankees, has joked that Rafael Devers, the All-Star of the Boston Red Sox, is his kryptonite. The numbers in their head-to-head matchups support this claim.

The Red Sox did not anticipate that Cole, who was pitching in the early afternoon on Saturday, would raise four fingers when Devers approached the plate for his second at-bat, indicating an intentional walk.

The Red Sox defeated Cole in that inning and removed him from the game shortly after, and they were not hesitant to express their disapproval of his decision to give Devers a free pass.

Brayan Bello, Boston's starter in the game, stated through translator Carlos Villoria Benitez that he felt he displayed a lot of weakness in his move.

Benitez added that Devers caught him off guard. He didn't anticipate that from a future Hall of Famer and felt like Devers panicked a bit.

Alex Cora, the Red Sox manager, believes that Cole hit Devers on purpose during his first at-bat.

"Cora stated via ESPN that he doesn't want to confront him, and the bottom line is that he hit him during the first at-bat with an intentional walk."

In the fourth inning, the Yankees' lead was 1-0 after Gleyber Torres singled in a run the previous inning. However, in the top of the fourth, Cole lost control.

In the game, Cole's only runner before the walk with one out was Devers on a hit by pitch. However, after Masataka Yoshida's RBI ground-rule double scored Devers, Cole's first hit allowed in the game, and Wilyer Abreu brought home two more with a single in the next at-bat, 10 of the next 12 batters reached base, and runs started to pour in.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Red Sox scored four more runs against Cole, causing the Yankees to question his confidence and control. Cole struck out a career-high three batters and allowed the most runs in an outing since June 9, 2022.

Devers got revenge against Cole by knocking in two runners with a rope to right-center field, as he waited on a hanging knuckle-curve and sent it flying into the outfield.

"Just a rough day," Cole noted after the game.

"Cole stated that the intentional walk to Devers inspired them, but looking back, he believes it was a misguided decision."

Aaron Boone, the Yankees manager, was questioned about the reason behind Cole intentionally walking Devers with one out and no one on base during an outing that seemed to be going smoothly. Boone revealed that he and Cole had discussed the possibility of using intentional walks prior to the game, even though Cole had not given one to a hitter in seven years.

Before the fourth inning, Cole visited the clubhouse tunnel and discussed the intentional walk with Devers approaching with pitching coach Matt Blake.

"Austin Wells, Cole's catcher, was taken aback. He believed Cole had gained momentum."

If we had scored the run, I would have preferred attacking them. However, I didn't communicate my preference well enough.

The Red Sox needed momentum to keep their postseason dreams alive after Aaron Judge hit a go-ahead grand slam the night before in a 5-4 loss at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox are striving to make it to the postseason in one of the three American League wild-card spots, despite being 3.5 games behind the current holder of the final slot, the Minnesota Twins. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Orioles are fighting for the AL East title.

In the standings, both the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners are one game ahead of Boston.

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