The Red Sox offense came alive Friday afternoon, and it was Rafael Devers who set the tone.<\/p>\n
Devers capped off a four-run sixth inning with a three-run home run to give Boston a 6-2 lead it did not relinquish and continued to build. That came in a 13-run eighth inning when the All-Star slugger hit a grand slam<\/a> off Baltimore Orioles infielder Emmanuel Rivera. Alex Cora\u2019s side beat the O\u2019s<\/a> 19-5 to take the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park.<\/p>\n Devers went 4-for-6 and recorded a career-high eight RBIs in the afternoon tilt. The two home runs landed his career tally at 212 and landed him inside the top 10 in franchise history, passing Rico Petrocelli. Devers was 10 home runs behind Jimmie Fox for ninth on Boston\u2019s all-time home run list.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was one at-bat at one point, and you look up and you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, shoot. This is happening.’\u201d Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN\u2019s postgame coverage. \u201cI told (Rob Refsnyder), \u2018Man, he was 0-for-20 with 15 strikeouts. And everybody was jumping off the roof of buildings, and he has to play third for him hit and all that.\u2019 The guy hits. He\u2019s been hitting since 2017. There\u2019s a reason they called him up that year. Was he prepared to play third base at this level? Probably not. But they needed a bat. The bat has spoke loud and clear since he got here. He\u2019s made an impact on this organization, and you keep looking at the numbers and now he\u2019s No. 9 in home runs and then the RBIs are creeping up. He\u2019s having an outstanding season. He keeps working at it. There was some flaws early on. Spring training wasn\u2019t perfect. We know that. And little by little, he\u2019s been building his swing, and against lefties, he\u2019s been amazing doing damage against them.\u201d<\/p>\n Devers was on an outstanding stretch heading into Friday. The star slugger hit three home runs and collected seven RBIs off a 1.467 OPS in the last seven games, and Friday afternoon showed he isn\u2019t slowing down anytime soon.<\/p>\n Here are more notes from the first game of Friday\u2019s doubleheader:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2014 Before Boston\u2019s offensive fireworks, Alex Bregman left the game in the fifth inning due to right quad tightness. Cora told reporters that Nick Sogard would start at third and Abraham Toro would start at first in the second game. Bregman would test his injury Saturday.<\/p>\n \u2014 Another blemish from the win was Brayan Bello\u2019s performance. The right-hander only gave up two runs and struck out seven batters. But he only went four innings off 87 pitches. It was the 18th time this season that a Red Sox starter pitched less than five innings this season. Bello hasn\u2019t pitched at least five innings since May 2 against the Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard. We need our starters to go deeper,\u201d Cora said. \u201cI actually thought he had good stuff. I truly believe that. There was some long at-bats from 0-2, to a lot of foul balls, to get people out. The contact wasn\u2019t hard, right, but the at-bats were long. He got 87 pitches. That\u2019s the pocket right there. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 The Red Sox bullpen stepped up and did not give up a run while allowing four innings \u2014 not including infielder Abraham Toro, who finished the game. Garrett Whitlock earned the win, pitching two innings and recording two strikeouts.<\/p>\n \u2014 Boston scored 13 runs in the eighth inning. That\u2019s the most in franchise history since June 27, 2003.<\/p>\n \u2014 Refsnyder continues to mash against lefties. The veteran outfielder had a .960 OPS against left-handed pitchers heading into Friday, and his three-run home run against Cionel Perez highlighted his proficiency against southpaws.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u2014 The two three-run home runs put the Red Sox at 15 three-run dingers on the year, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for most in MLB.<\/p>\n \u2014 First pitch for the second game of the doubleheader is scheduled at 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage on NESN<\/a> starting at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n \t