Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora needed video replay to confirm what he saw Rafael Devers do at the plate in the eighth inning.
Devers had Cora, and his teammates, marveling at his sensational hitting ability when he took a high fastball out of the zone from Paul Sewald on an 0-2 count and belted it over the left field wall for a two-run, two-out home run to break a scoreless deadlock.
Devers' round-tripper provided Boston's only runs in its 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday at T-Mobile Park, and had Cora baffled at how he was able to do damage on a low-percentage pitch.
"I have no idea, honestly," Cora said as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "I looked on the video, and unreal. ... Hand coordination, power, you got to be perfect to hit a ball like that, and he was for that swing."
Cora wasn't the only one gushing about Devers' swing. Rob Refsnyder, who got hit by a pitch in the at-bat before Devers, shared in the amazement of what the slugging third baseman pulled off.
"It's unbelievable what he just did," Refsnyder said as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "Fastball outside, take it to left field, true spin. That's one of the best hitters in all of baseball. So, it's pretty special to watch."
For Devers, it was his team-leading 14th home run of the season, but he wasn't done making plays after that blast. To start the bottom of the eighth, Devers made a slick defensive play, bare-handing a slow roller off the bat of Jesse Winker and firing onto first base to get him in time.
Devers certainly came up clutch by doing it all to make sure the Red Sox concluded their long West Coast road trip with a win.
More notes from Sunday's Red Sox-Mariners game:
-- Kutter Crawford, who was called-up from Triple-A Worcester to make the start, delivered an outstanding performance. Crawford tossed five scoreless innings and allowed only one walk while striking out seven.
Crawford did get in some trouble by issuing four walks, but in three frames, he stranded a Mariners runner in scoring position by getting a strikeout.
"I think his stuff was really good," Cora said. "He made some good pitches, too, on two strikes. He was under control, throwing hard, the cutter was good."
-- Boston's five relievers in Ryan Brasier, Austin Davis, Tyler Danish, John Schreiber and Tanner Houck were near perfect. They combined to allow no hits -- Seattle had only one hit in the game -- and just one walk. Danish ended up recording the win while Houck notched his second save of the series with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
-- Refsnyder put his name into the running for the best catch of the season. After starting the game in center field, Refsnyder moved over to right and made an insane, full-extension diving grab to rob Ty France of extra bases in the bottom of the eighth.
"Off the bat, I didn't really think I had a chance, but it kind of just stayed up there," Refsnyder said. "So, thankful to get there."
-- The Red Sox went 8-2 on their West Coast road trip.
-- The Red Sox have a day off on Monday before starting a nine-game homestand. Boston's first game back at Fenway Park comes Tuesday against the Oakland Athletics. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m., and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
