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Dan Shaughnessy

Rafael Devers comes shining through

Red Sox rookie Rafael Devers hit a solo homer in the third inning of Wednesday’s 4-0 win inSeattle to record his first major league hit.Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

SEATTLE — It was quite a week for 20-year-old Red Sox rookie Rafael Devers. He made his first six-hour flight, got his first $60 haircut (clubhouse barber), and hit his first major league home run in a much-needed, 4-0 Red Sox victory (thank you, Chris Sale) over the Mariners Wednesday.

So what’s the reward?

No one knows. Devers went 2 for 4 in his second career game, but might be headed right back to the minors before the reeling Red Sox come home for David Price’s return party at Fenway Friday night.

It’s a tricky situation. After calling up Devers on Monday, the Sox made a deal for Giants third baseman Eduardo Nunez late Tuesday. They say Nunez is going to be their everyday third baseman. Sooooo . . . despite his high ceiling and amazing bat speed, Devers might wind up being the guy who makes room for Nunez.

“He hasn’t hurt his cause by any means,’’ said Sox manager John Farrell. “He’s taken care of what he can on his end.’’

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Speaking through Sox translator Daveson Perez, the baby-faced Devers said, “I haven’t thought much about what’s to come. The way I’ve always been is, wherever they put me to play, I’m going to give 110 percent and the cards are going to fall where they may.’’

This much we know: Devers is the most talented prospect in the Sox system and his long blast on Wednesday makes him the youngest Sox player to hit a home run since Tony Conigliaro.

Given how things have been going for the Red Sox, it was great to have a day when folks were talking about Tony C (he hit 24 homers as a teenager in 1964) instead of losing streaks, bad behavior, and non-apologies. Talking about Devers was fun for everybody as the club got ready for its long flight to Boston.

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“He’s got something special in that bat,’’ said Farrell. “This is not an easy ballpark to hit a ball out in center field. He’s been impressive. He looks very much at ease.’’

Sale, who book-ended the 2-4 coast trip with wins on each end, added, “I think he’s great. He had two walks in his debut and then the big swing for us today. He’s fun to watch. To see him doing what he’s doing — the youngest player in the big leagues — the way he handles himself, we’ve got all the confidence in the world in him.’’

It will be less fun to watch this team if the Sox don’t keep Devers when they make room for Nunez.

Phenoms in the Red Sox system don’t sneak up on Boston’s hardcore fans anymore. It’s not like Freddie Lynn getting the call from Pawtucket in the mid 1970s and having folks say, “Wow. This kid is really good. Where’d he come from?’’

No. Nowadays hardcore fans know tons about a prospect when he finally makes it to The Show. Baseball America makes superstars out of high school and college players before they sign professional contracts. Websites are dedicated to minor league prospects. Players are researched and rated long before they make it to the bigs. Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi already had fan clubs when they were called up by the Red Sox. There are no secrets on the top guys anymore.

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It was obvious that the Seattle Mariners already had a book on Devers even though he’s only played nine games in Triple A. It was weird to see the Mariners go into shift mode when Devers came to the plate for his first big-league at-bat Tuesday night. Devers flied softly to left and went 0 for 4 and walked twice, scoring one run in his big-league debut.

Game 2 was another story. The Sox had an insurmountable 1-0 lead (Sale pitching) when Devers led off the top of the third against 23-year-old Mariners righty Andrew Moore. Moore was making his sixth big-league start.

Devers took the first two pitches for balls, fouled off the next pitch, then unloaded on a 2-and-1 90-miles-per-hour, four-seam fastball and drove it high and deep to center. Mariners center fielder Guillermo Heredia ran back a few steps, then watched the ball sail over the green wall, a little to the left of the 401-foot sign. It was a safe landing spot for the kid’s first homer. The ball landed in a sod farm/vegetable garden in front of the batter’s eye at Safeco Field, then bounced over a slice of stands and into a Mariners TV stage platform.

Seattle’s Guillermo Heredia (5) was unable to track down Rafael Devers’s home run to center field in the third inning.Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images

Devers circled the bases in humble rookie fashion (“I knew it would go out, but of course I had to run hard out of the box’’), then made his way toward the dugout. He was greeted by Hanley Ramirez, who hugged him and removed his helmet. Sox players gave Devers the traditional big freeze for a few moments, then showered him with hugs and noogies.

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Rafael Devers was warmly greeted by his Red Sox teammates in the dugout after his first major league hit, a solo homer.Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images

Upstairs in the press box, a Seattle official made an in-house call to ask one of the center-field attendants to get the baseball for Devers. Moments later, the baseball was fished out of the TV area and handed over to the Red Sox in the visiting bullpen. A Sox clubhouse attendant presented Devers with the ball after the game.

Devers squared up a couple more balls after the homer. He lined to right in the fourth and cracked a hard single off the leg of Mariner veteran lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski in the seventh. It was impressive lefty-on-lefty crime. Lefties had hit .186 off Rzepczynski.

“It’s the same baseball for me at the end of the day,’’ said a smiling Devers. “I don’t now how, but I guarantee that my dad [in the Dominican Republic] found a way to watch the game today and that my whole family was watching with him.’’

Nice. A warm and fuzzy moment for the beleaguered, still-first-place Red Sox. Here’s hoping they find a way to keep the kid on the team for the rest of the season.


Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.