For the Boston Red Sox, the first day of the post-Rafael Devers era ended the same way as the last five days of the Devers era: with a win. The Red Sox shut out out the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Monday night (BOS 2, SEA 0), one day after the stunner of a trade that sent Devers to the San Francisco Giants for four players and salary relief. Boston has a six-game winning streak.
“There was a lot of energy today,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after Monday’s win (via MLB.com). “For the group, it’s a tough day, man. Raffy, he’s Raffy. He’s not with us anymore. We’ve got a job, too. We have to continue. Today was a good day for us.”
The highlight of Monday’s win was top prospect Roman Anthony, inserted into the No. 3 spot in the lineup following the Devers trade, hitting his first major-league home run to open the scoring. Here is the first of many for Anthony:
“It was awesome,” Anthony said (via MLB.com). “It was even better that we got a great win there. So it was great.”
At 21 years and 34 days, Anthony is the youngest Red Sox player to hit a home run since, well, Rafael Devers. Devers was 20 years and 350 days old when he went deep in Game 4 of the 2017 ALDS against the Houston Astros. Anthony’s homer came off Mariners ace Logan Gilbert, who was making his first start since April 25 after dealing with a flexor strain.
Anthony’s homer and Devers trade aside, the story of the day was the Red Sox once again getting excellent pitching. They’ve pitched two straight shutouts and have allowed eight runs total during their six-game winning streak. Lucas Giolito struck out 10 Mariners in six shutout innings Monday. It was his first 10-strikeout game since Sept. 15, 2023, against the Texas Rangers.
The six-game winning streak has moved Boston into the third wild-card spot, a half-game up on Seattle. It is the first time the Red Sox have sat in playoff position since May 11. The Red Sox are 38-36 and two games over .500 for the first time since they were 22-20, also on May 11.
Monday was the first game of a nine-game West Coast trip for the BoSox. They will visit Devers and the Giants this weekend at Oracle Park. Devers is expected to play his first game for San Francisco against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday. The Giants had an off-day Monday.
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