Rafael Devers ' intentional walk by Gerrit Cole with no one on base sparked a three-run fourth inning, and Devers added a two-run single in Boston's four-run fifth as the Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 7-1 Saturday.
Cole (6-5), the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, hadn't allowed a hit and led 1-0 when he walked Devers with one out in the fourth. Boston's only runner until then had been Devers, who was hit by a pitch in the first and erased on a double play.
After retiring nine of his first 10 batters, Cole allowed 10 of the next 12 to reach base. The 34-year-old right-hander gave up seven runs, his most since June 9, 2022, hit a career-high three batters and left after 4 1/3 innings.
Brayan Bello (14-7) gave up one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Red Sox. After the game, Bello told reporters that the intentional walk "showed a lot of weakness," per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com .
Red Sox manager Alex Cora also objected to the decision to walk Devers. "We took exception to that because it was loud and clear he didn't want to face him," according to Cotillo . Devers added that he thought Cole " panicked a little bit ."
Earlier Saturday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone admitted that Devers "definitely had Gerrit's number over the years," as reported by Bryan Hoch of MLB.com .
Boston (75-74) started the day 4 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the last AL wild card, also needing to overcome Detroit and Seattle. New York (86-63) had a three-game AL East lead over second-place Baltimore.
Devers entered 14 for 41 (.316) with eight homers against Cole, including the postseason, but was 9 for 53 (.170) with one RBI since Aug. 30.
Cole's intentional walk was the pitcher's first since he was with Pittsburgh and put on Milwaukee's Travis Shaw with runners on second and third in the third inning of a 2-2 game on Sept. 12, 2017. Domingo Santana followed with a two-run double and scored on Eric Thames' single as the Brewers won 5-2.
Devers stole second and Masataka Yoshida hit an opposite-field RBI double into the left-field corner for Boston's first hit, tying it at 1. Wilyer Abreu followed with a two-run single for a 3-1 lead, and Triston Casas bounced into an inning-ending double play.
The earliest previous international walks by the Yankees with no runners on both were in the sixth inning: to the Philadelphia Athletics' Al Simmons by Roy Sherid leading off on Sept. 22, 1930, and to Washington's Frank Howard by Fritz Peterson with two outs on April 22, 1970.
Trevor Story singled leading off the fifth and stole second, Danny Jansen walked and Enmanuel Valdez flied out as Story took third. Jarren Duran was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Devers lined a knuckle-curve into right for a 5-1 lead. Tyler O'Neill was hit by a pitch and Yoshida chased Cole with a two-run single.
Cole is 5-6 with a 6.06 ERA in 15 starts against the Red Sox for the Yankees.
Zach Penrod, a 27-year-old left-hander, made his big league debut for Boston in the eighth, replacing Josh Winckowski after Aaron Judge's leadoff double. He got three outs while working around a walk, striking out Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Penrod's wife, Kyla, watched the game at Yankee Stadium while holding week-old daughter, Noa Mae.
Gleyber Torres hit an RBI single for New York in the third.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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