Gerrit Cole has tried everything against Rafael Devers. Now, he's crowdsourcing ideas about how to get the Boston Red Sox slugger out.
"I'm open for suggestions," Cole joked to reporters Thursday night after Devers took him deep twice in the New York Yankees' 6-5 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Tomase: Rafael Devers has a big fan in Yankees star Aaron Judge
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Cole had little trouble with the rest of Boston's lineup, racking up seven strikeouts and allowing just three hits to players not named Devers over six innings. But Devers continued to torture the Yankees ace by crushing Cole's slider for a two-run home run in the third inning and golfing Cole's changeup to dead center for a three-run blast in the fifth.
"You guys are all watching the game, too," Cole said. "I mean, obviously he has the ability to ride the ball out at the bottom of the zone. He has the ability to catch up to my fastball, he's proven that, so both pitches were pretty well executed."
Devers now has six home runs in 23 career regular-season at-bats against Cole -- the most long balls Cole has allowed to any major league hitter. All but one of Devers' seven hits off Cole have been long balls, and Devers boasts a .304 average with 15 RBIs versus the four-time All-Star.
"It's pretty wild," Cole said of Devers. "He's just been able to hit everything. There hasn't been a mis-hit. Roll over one time. Line out one time.
"You're supposed to fail seven out of 10 times in this gig. I don't know what the deal is. We'll just have to keep at it, man. Just keep at it. I was like, WTF man. But it didn't beat us. It didn't beat us."
Cole isn't Devers' only Yankees victim: The 25-year-old third baseman already has 15 career homers against New York and now is sandwiched between Ted Williams and Babe Ruth for the second-most long balls in franchise history among players age 25 or younger.
Devers got zero help from his Red Sox teammates Thursday night, however, as Boston dropped to 9-19 against American League East competition.