No easy answers for Devers' defensive woes, but benching him isn't one

The Red Sox have a Rafael Devers problem and it's not going away for a simple reason — they need to keep playing Rafael Devers.

The slugging third baseman has been coming around with the bat after failing to drive in a run until game No. 13 despite opening the season in the 3-hole.

Even after taking an 0-for-3 in Thursday's 6-4 loss to the White Sox, Devers is hitting .367 over his last eight games with an .895 OPS and seven RBIs. He drove in two runs on Thursday with a groundout and sacrifice fly.

We're not here to discuss his offense, though. It's his defense that has everyone worried, and on Thursday it cost the Red Sox an almost certain win.

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With Boston leading 4-3 in the ninth, Devers booted a one-out grounder by Jose Rondon. Two batters later, Nicky Delmonico blasted a walk-off three-run homer to complete the demoralizing defeat.

"That's a routine play, yeah. And he missed it," manager Alex Cora told reporters in Chicago. "We've been talking about it, we've got to get better. That one, got to take a look at the video, but it seems like he was a little bit out of control. Just missed it."

Indeed, Devers charged and gloved Rondon's grounder, but he somehow flung the ball clean out of his webbing on the exchange for the ghastly E-5 that gave the White Sox life.

"I believe that was the only way to make the play and get the runner out at first," Devers told reporters. "It really doesn't matter the type of play, I go after each play whether it's the routine or non-routine play, I go after it as best I can. Sometimes they come out the right way, sometimes they don't. It's a tough loss, especially because I played a significant role in the loss, but I understand it's part of the game."

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It's becoming an all-too-familiar part of it, unfortunately. Devers leads all third basemen in errors with nine, and most of them have come on routine plays. It's partly a product of volume -- his 105 chances lead the majors, too -- but that's hardly an excuse for the series of wild throws and misplays that have characterized his season since the very first ball hit to him in 2019, an Edwin Encarnacion grounder that he booted on Opening Day in Seattle.

Many of his other errors have been more damaging. To wit:

-- A wild throw in Oakland allowed Khris Davis to reach in the bottom of eighth and quickly turned a 4-0 game into a 7-0 game.

-- He misplayed a Renato Nunez grounder as part of the team's three-error seventh that eliminated any possibility of rallying in a 9-5 loss to the Orioles on April 13.

-- He failed to complete a forceout against the Rays on April 19 in the sixth inning of a 4-2 game. Daniel Robertson then ripped a game-tying double to left, though the Red Sox rallied to win on home runs by Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez.

-- He made a similar error against Tampa last week at Fenway, which ended up preceding a two-run triple by Yandy Diaz in the Rays' 5-2 victory.

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So what are the Red Sox to do? At the moment, they're short on alternatives. The only options to play third are rookie Michael Chavis and utilityman Tzu-Wei Lin, one of whom needs to start at second. Veteran Eduardo Nunez homered in a rehab appearance at Pawtucket on Thursday and is in line to rejoin the team in the next two or three days, but likely at the expense of Lin. In any event, Chavis, a novice second baseman, is a more reasonable candidate to need a defensive replacement, though perhaps he shifts to third in the late innings in the short term.

Devers' bat is too important to sideline, and he's not struggling to make above-average plays -- earlier in Thursday's game, for instance, he made a beautiful sliding stab up the third base line and strong throw across the diamond to nail Jose Abreu.

Thanks to above-average range, he has only cost the Red Sox a net two runs defensively, per Baseball Info Solutions, though that's of little consolation after one of his miscues leads to a walkoff.

The ability is there and the Red Sox lack alternatives to replace him. He's going to need to work through his problems.

Sooner rather than later would be nice.

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