Gerrit Cole's intentional walk of Rafael Devers sparks Red Sox - ESPN

NEW YORK — Rafael Devers' intentional walk by Gerrit Cole with no one on base sparked a three-run fourth inning, and Devers added a two-run single in Boston's four-run fifth as the Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 7-1 Saturday.

Cole (6-5), the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, hadn't allowed a hit and led 1-0 when he walked Devers with one out in the fourth. Boston's only runner until then had been Devers, who was hit by a pitch in the first and erased on a double play.

After retiring nine of his first 10 batters, Cole, 34, allowed 10 of the next 12 to reach base. The right-hander gave up seven runs, his most since June 9, 2022, hit a career-high three batters and left after 4⅓ innings.

Brayan Bello (14-7) gave up one run and four hits in 5⅓ innings for the Red Sox.

Boston (75-74) started the day 4½ games behind Minnesota for the last AL wild card, also needing to overcome Detroit and Seattle. New York (86-63) had a three-game AL East lead over second-place Baltimore.

Devers entered 14-for-41 (.316) with eight homers against Cole, including the postseason, but was 9-for-53 (.170) with one RBI since Aug. 30.

Cole's intentional walk was the pitcher's first since he was with Pittsburgh and put Milwaukee's Travis Shaw on with runners on second and third in the third inning of a 2-2 game on Sept. 12, 2017. Domingo Santana followed with a two-run double and scored on Eric Thames' single as the Brewers won 5-2.

Devers stole second and Masataka Yoshida hit an opposite-field RBI double into the left-field corner for Boston's first hit, tying it at 1. Wilyer Abreu followed with a two-run single for a 3-1 lead, and Triston Casas bounced into an inning-ending double play.

The earliest previous intentional walks by the Yankees with