It wound up being a disappointing afternoon at Fenway Park. The offense largely fell silent, the pitching staff blew a 3-0 lead and the Red Sox had to settle for a four-game split against a Detroit Tigers team they really needed to beat.

But let it be said that Boston’s $313 million man did everything in his power to prevent that from happening, proving once again why he’s worth the money.

Devers enjoyed a sensational game on Sunday, going 2 for 4 with two RBI, a walk, a triple and the game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the eighth. He also made a handful of brilliant defensive plays, but it wasn’t enough as the Red Sox wound up losing to the Tigers 8-4 in 10 innings.

Detroit’s four-run top of the 10th made the difference, with Andy Ibanez putting the Tigers ahead with an RBI double, Javier Baez delivering the dagger with a two-run single and Carson Kelly tacking on another RBI double as added insurance. All four runs came against left-hander Cam Booser, and the Red Sox offense wound up going quietly in the bottom of the 10th.

The end result aside, Devers is looking as comfortable on both sides of the ball as he’s looked in ages.

Devers’ RBI triple in the third inning was his second triple in five days, and prior to that he hadn’t hit one since May 18, 2022. His first-inning walk also set up Enmanuel Valdez’s subsequent RBI single, continuing a trend that’s seen Devers’ walk rate improve to 12% from his career average of 8.3%.

“I think controlling the strike zone has helped him,” Cora said pregame of Devers. “He’s not chasing the fastball like he used to. And understanding who he is in the lineup, right? He knows that there’s going to be certain situations that he might get one pitch to hit, and just be ready for that one, and be humble enough to take your walk. It seems like now he’s in a great place.”

Cora also praised Devers for his defense, which has quietly become much better this season. Though the advanced metrics are still down on Devers, he has only recorded four errors through his first 49 games, and Sunday he started a smooth double play to help Brayan Bello post a quick 1-2-3 fourth inning before later making an incredible stop and throw from his knees in the top of the ninth.

All told, Devers is now batting .283 with 11 home runs, 29 RBI and a .925 OPS, all of which rank among the best in the American League.

Outside of Devers, Sunday was a frustrating day.

Still seeking to move past his midday malaise, Bello came this close to delivering a daytime gem but couldn’t keep the base paths clean. The 25-year-old was charged with four runs on eight hits and three walks over 6.1 innings, working around traffic in the first, fifth and sixth innings before ultimately getting burned his last time out in the seventh.

Bello allowed a run on a wild pitch in the fifth, a sacrifice fly in the sixth and then gave up two singles in the seventh before giving way to Justin Slaten, who allowed both inherited runners to score on an RBI double by Wenceel Perez and an RBI groundout by Mark Canha.

Offensively the Red Sox got off to a great start before falling silent after the third inning. Coming off hitting two home runs on Saturday, Valdez kept his big weekend going by delivering a two-out RBI single to put the Red Sox ahead 1-0 in the first. Jarren Duran made it 2-0 with an RBI single in the second, and Devers scored Dominic Smith with his triple in the third.

But after Devers’ triple the Tigers faced the minimum 14 batters between the third and seventh innings, and by then the Tigers had erased the deficit to take a 4-3 lead. It wasn’t until Devers’ game-tying home run in the eighth that the Red Sox showed any signs of life, and after that the Red Sox responded by loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth before Connor Wong flew out to send the game to extras.

The ninth almost featured what would have been perhaps the feel-good moment of the season.

Jamie Westbrook, a career minor league journeyman who has spent 11 seasons waiting for his shot, was called up to the big leagues on Sunday and made his debut in the bottom of the ninth after Cora inserted him as a pinch hitter with two outs and the game-winning run at second. It’s hard to imagine a more pressure packed spot for your first MLB plate appearance, but while Westbrook didn’t come up with the walk-off game-winner, he still drew a walk and gave his team a chance to win.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, a storybook ending wasn’t in the cards on Sunday.