Alex Cora says Gerrit Cole hit Rafael Devers intentionally in the first inning Saturday

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was roughed up by the Red Sox Saturday in a 7-1 loss . Something that drew attention in the outing was Cole deciding to intentionally walk Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers with no baserunners and one out in the fourth inning, when it was 1-0 Yankees ( full story here ).

While the focus for many was on the oddity, Red Sox manager Alex Cora went elsewhere. Specifically, he connected the dots from that free pass to the first inning, when Cole hit Devers with a pitch. Cora's theory here is that Cole didn't want to face Devers, illustrated by the intentional walk, so that HBP must've been intentional.

"I felt like the first at-bat, he hit him on purpose," said Cora ( via NESN ). "He doesn't wanna face him, that's the bottom line. He told us with the intentional walk that the first at-bat he hit him. We'll leave it at that. After that, he had bases loaded and had to face him."

As Cora noted, the third plate appearance for Devers came with the bases loaded. With no place to put him, Cole allowed a two-RBI single. In the first plate appearance, Cole hit Devers with an 0-1 cutter.

"We took exception to that because it was loud and clear that he didn't want to face him," Cora said. "It was intentional, I'm not gonna back off. It was intentional."

Before Saturday, Devers was 14 for 41 (.341) with a double and eight home runs in his career -- regular season and postseason combined -- against Cole. All eight home runs have come in 2021-24. The last time they faced each was on July 6 and Devers homered in his third and final at-bat against Cole.