“We had discussed in the days prior to and during the game strategically walking him because of the past success that he's had,” Cole told reporters as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “I looked to the dugout and stuck with the plan. If I make pitches after that and I continue to execute at a high level, then the plan works. But evidently the plan didn't work.”
Cole lost all momentum and unraveled after his free pass to Devers, who promptly stole second base after being intentionally walked. The Red Sox got to Cole for three runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth to put an end to his day after 4 1/3 frames.
“Our bullpen specifically was thin and we were strategically looking for a way to get as deep into the ball game as we could knowing that we were going to pitch very carefully to Devers and potentially not really throw him any strikes,” Cole said.
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