Devers defies logic with massive HR as dominance vs. Yankees continues originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Human beings are not supposed to pull a pitch way outside the strike zone for a 423-foot home run, but Boston Red Sox star Rafael Devers is no ordinary human being.
After giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead over the New York Yankees with a home run in the seventh inning Sunday night, Devers launched another ball into the Yankee Stadium bullpen during the ninth inning to increase Boston’s advantage to 3-0.
The crazy part of this homer was the fact that the pitch was well outside the strike zone, and yet Devers was able to muster the incredible strength to not only hit it far, but pull it 423 feet over the fence.
Here’s a look at just how far out of the zone the pitch was:
“The first (homer) was impressive,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after his team’s 3-0 win, including MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “The second one, I saw the replay and I don’t know how you can do that. That pitch is way off the plate and he barreled it.”
MLB’s Sarah Langs provided some further context to the absurdity of Devers’ second home run:
this pitch was 1.50 ft from the center of the plate, the 2nd-furthest-outside pitch a LHB has homered off under Statcast (2015, incl ps), behind only Schwarber off deGrom in 2015 NLCS G3, 1.58 ft
only 2 RHB have HRed off pitches that far outside, so it’s the 4th-furthest-outside… https://t.co/FNldZ17TCK
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) July 8, 2024
Devers dominating Yankees pitching is nothing new.
After blasting three homers over the weekend, he now has 28 home runs and 71 RBI versus the Yankees in his career. Devers also has 11 career go-ahead home runs at Yankee Stadium, which is the most in Red Sox history (one more than Jim Rice) and two behind Boog Powell for the most all time (13).
Devers has been one of the league’s most feared hitters most of his career, but he’s especially productive in the Bronx. And that’s a pretty valuable trait if you’re a Red Sox player.
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