Rafael Devers has done a few “youngest Red Sox player since Tony Conigliaro” things this season. But none of them have been as important as the history he made with a 2-run home run in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Astros on Sunday.
Rafael Devers is youngest Red Sox player to hit a postseason home run in franchise history
He saved Boston’s season and made history at the same time.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
With the Red Sox down 3-2 and their season on the line, Devers came to the plate to face Francisco Liriano. Brad Peacock had just been given the hook in favor of the lefty, but Devers wasn’t deterred by the swap.
He hit a 2-run bomb to straightaway center field to put the Red Sox up 4-3 on Houston and gave a Boston team on the ropes some new life in this series.
With that home run, Devers became the youngest Red Sox player to hit a home run in the playoff in franchise history. He’s currently 20 years old and won’t be 21 until the beginning of the World Series. His smash helped keep the chance alive for him to celebrate his birthday with a Fall Classic appearance for Boston.
The only people who have hit a homer in the playoffs at Devers’ age or younger are Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera, Manny Machado, Andruw Jones, and Bryce Harper. If that list is any indication at all of Devers’ future career, then Red Sox would be very, very happy with that.
This home run also meant that Boston wouldn’t the entire series without taking any sort of lead over Houston. It took them 21 innings to accomplish, but that’s better than 27 straight frames without one and a sweep -- which is where it looked like things were heading.
Look at the excitement on his face rounding first!
The Red Sox are hoping it won’t be his last postseason dinger, and that his smile will appear during October in the future.
But for now they’re probably just hoping he gets the chance to pull off more of that magic beyond Sunday’s game.
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