Chris Bassitt thought he had Rafael Devers fooled.
He made Devers look silly on a 1-0 offering, employing his patented slow-pitch curveball in the bottom of the fourth inning of the Red Sox’ 7-6 win over the Blue Jays Monday night at Fenway Park.
Devers was way out in front of the pitch, drawing the count even.
Bassitt, a starter with a bevy of pitches in his arsenal, presumed he could go back to that same pitch, thinking he could, once again, get Devers to speed up his swing.
Instead, Devers belted a 443-foot home run to the bleacher seats in right field, a two-run shot that handed the Sox a 2-1 lead.
How can Devers look so foolish on one particular pitch, then crush that same pitch on the next offering?
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How can he backspin a baseball to the opposite field in a left-on-left matchup for a home run with such authority? How can he dig a bad pitch well beneath the zone and dump it in the visitors’ bullpen?
How can he say Bassitt is a tough at-bat for him when he is 7 for 14 with three homers against him for his career?
Bassitt offered an insightful answer.
“I truly don’t know if you can game plan for him,” Bassitt said, before the series finale Wednesday was suspended by rain after 1⅓ innings. “I think, honestly, the biggest thing is that Devers doesn’t get much credit for how smart he is. I truly believe he’s one of the smartest hitters in the league.
“You can’t exploit a weakness. He will take it away and you don’t even know he takes it away, and then he hits a home run. It’s like, ‘Man, we had that pitch really good that night,’ Whatever it may be, he’s able to take away any weakness that he has at any moment.”
Devers has become a steady and consistent force for the Red Sox. In the past, while he was still one of the more talented hitters in baseball, Devers would always be susceptible to some streakiness at the plate. His numbers over the course of the season indicate his maturation.
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Consider his month-to-month slash line. March/April while nursing a bad shoulder and knee: .282/.407/.465 with an .872 OPS and three homers. May: .276/.348/.571 with a .919 OPS and seven homers. June: .300/.359/.625 with a .984 OPS and six homers.
You see the consistency?
His overall line of .289/.368/.559 with a .927 OPS and 16 homered. That the Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg beat Devers as a finalist in AL All-Star voting is unfathomable. Devers has minimized those moments when he tries to do too much at the plate. He’s drawing more walks, hunting pitches in certain spots,, and the results are there.
“He’s definitely one of the guys [who] I categorize where it’s like he’s trying to think with you,” Bassitt said. “And if he thinks with you, and he’s truly thinking with you, you’re in deep trouble. So I would say like the biggest game plan is just don’t let him think with you, so to speak.
“He’s unorthodox. But, again, I just don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for how smart he is. I truly think he’s one of the smartest guys in our game.”
All-Star fan vote: No Sox starters
The Red Sox won’t have an All-Star starter via the fan vote. None of their players were named a finalist and the vote will now move on to the next phase . . . The Red Sox open up a three-game set Friday against the Padres. Fernando Tatis Jr. won’t be a factor in this series for the Padres after he was placed on the injured list this week with a stress reaction in his left leg. Tatis intimated to reporters he tried to play through it for a while, but the injury caused pain he felt throughout his entire body . . . After a slow start to the season, the Padres are 7-1 in their last eight games. Their 44-41 record is good enough for second in their division behind the Dodgers . . . Manny Machado is getting hot for San Diego, hitting .329/.381/.474 with an .855 OPS and three homers in June . . . The Red Sox reinstated catcher Connor Wong from the paternity list and optioned catcher Tyler Heineman. The Sox also optioned righthander Isaiah Campbell to Triple A Worcester . . . Righthander Nick Pivetta will take the mound for the Sox Friday against Padres righthander Randy Vazquez. Sox righthander Tanner Houck will face righty Michael King on Saturday and righthander Josh Winckowski will oppose righty Matt Waldron in Sunday’s finale. Winckowski will start in place of the struggling Brayan Bello, who had his originally scheduled start Sunday pushed back to Wednesday.
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Julian McWilliams can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @byJulianMack.