Rafael Devers’ first walk-off HR in eventful week brings much-needed Red Sox win

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BOSTON — It’s been an eventful 10 days for Rafael Devers.

From his comments May 8 voicing frustration with the Boston Red Sox asking him to play first base to a meeting with team owner John Henry the following day in Kansas City to winning American League Player of the Week on Monday, there’s been no shortage of drama surrounding Devers.

On Saturday night, in the bottom of the ninth, he added a bit more.

Devers stepped to the plate with a tie score and smashed a 2-1 breaking ball to deep right-center over the bullpen wall, propelling the Red Sox to a 7-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

It was the first walk-off home run of Devers’ career as the Red Sox snapped a four-game losing streak in their largest come-from-behind victory of the season.

“We needed that one,” manager Alex Cora said.

So many times in recent weeks, the Red Sox have rallied in close games only to fall short or lose in extra innings. Three of their four losses this week on the road came in walk-off fashion. Eleven of their last 13 losses have been by three runs or fewer, with eight of those losses by just one run.

They’re 5-12 in one-run games this season.

“You can see both ways,” Cora said. “They cannot finish games or they’re about to take off, right? And I see it that way. I better see it that way.”

Devers was determined to end that downward spiral Saturday.

“Obviously, very excited because of the type of the game. For us to be able to come back to win these kinds of games means a lot,” Devers said through interpreter Carlos Villoria-Benitez.

Asked what the past 10 days have been like, Devers was succinct: “Yeah, that already happened.”

Devers won the game, but Jarren Duran’s 2-for-5 night, in addition to throwing a runner out at home, gave the Red Sox a chance.

Jarren takes a lap 🏃

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— Red Sox (@redsox.com) May 17, 2025 at 8:16 PM

A victory such as Saturday night might be just another win in the season for a struggling club. But it could be the catalyst the Sox need to snap out of their middling, .500 rut.

“We’re about to see,” Cora said. “It’s only one night. I don’t want to get too excited about it, but like I’ve been saying, the record is a record. We know we have a good team.”

Duran’s two-run homer in the third put the Red Sox on the board at 5-2, and his two-run single in the eighth tied the score 6-6.

“We’ve been pretty resilient all year, having games like that coming up short,” Duran said. “But today was our night. It’s always a good feeling to have one of those nights.”

The Red Sox fell into an early hole thanks to three home runs off Lucas Giolito within the first three innings. Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna hit back-to-back shots in the first and Drake Baldwin added another two-run homer in the third as the Braves built an early 5-0 lead.

Giolito managed just four innings, allowing six runs on eight hits. He threw 87 pitches, 52 strikes.

“I put us in a deep hole early the way I pitched. I definitely deserved to lose,” Giolito said. “But that shows the fact that we’re just not giving up.

“I think it definitely was the win of the year.”

The Red Sox bullpen, which has struggled of late in so many one-run and walk-off losses, held Atlanta down for five innings. Brennan Bernardino, Nick Burdi, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman kept the Braves at bay as the Boston bats got to work. Duran helped defensively, too. In the sixth with two on against Burdi, Duran fielded a two-out Olson single and fired a perfect strike home to throw out Alex Verdugo attempting to score.

After Duran’s third-inning homer, the Red Sox bats were quiet for the next three innings, threatening another rough loss.

But in the seventh, Ceddanne Rafaela got the offense going with a leadoff double. After a Duran flyout, Devers singled to left, driving in Rafaela and advancing to second on the throw home. Alex Bregman followed with a double, scoring Devers to bring Boston within 6-4 before Duran’s two-run single in the eighth.

Devers finished it off with his eighth homer of the season, which traveled 402 feet and 107.3 mph off the bat as Fenway erupted.

“He’s locked in,” Cora said of Devers. “He really cares about the team and he wants to win. And right now, like I said before, he’s our DH, and he’s doing an outstanding job.”

One win is one win, but the Red Sox desperately needed it. Now they’ll see if this will be the momentum-builder of which they’ve been searching.

“You’re going to get punched in the mouth,” Duran said. “But I thought the way we responded today was a good thing. We were down early and down bad, and we just stayed resilient and stayed within ourselves.”

(Photo: Michael Owens / Getty Images)

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