The explosive sound of the ball/bat collision was familiar. So, too, was the sight of the lefthanded hitter’s pose: hands held high behind his head, front leg straightened, front foot angled up.
Rafael Devers provided some variation of those events after homering at Fenway 100 times (95 in the regular season, five in the postseason) with the Red Sox from 2017-25. But on Friday, his 412-foot launch to center field came as a visitor.
Apparent confusion befell 37,007 witnesses to an eventual 6-4 Sox win over the Giants: Boos before the swing, awe at the force of contact, a crescendo of excitement tracking the ball’s flight, and finally a sigh of recognition realizing Devers had gone deep for the Giants at the expense of Sox starter Sonny Gray. Those few seconds encapsulated the tangled feelings as Devers returned to Fenway for the first time since the Sox traded him last June.
Prior to the game, Devers — who declined postgame comment — admitted uncertainty about his reception.
“I don’t know what to expect,” Devers said via translator 3½ hours before first pitch. “I don’t know if people are going to cheer. I don’t know if they’re going to boo.”
As he signed for fans prior to the game, Devers was welcomed back to Boston. When he was announced as the No. 2 hitter in the Giants lineup 15 minutes before first pitch, boos reverberated, a warmup for an even louder chorus of detractors that largely drowned out an undercurrent of applause when Devers batted in the first inning.
A video tribute on the scoreboard after the first inning — punctuated by the message, “Welcome back 2018 World Series champion Rafael Devers” — was more warmly received. Applause prompted waves from Devers to the crowd.
But for much of the night, the vocal referendum at Fenway was clear. To the audible majority, the messy end of Devers’s time in Boston overshadowed the brilliance of his Sox tenure, in a way that vexed members of both teams.
“It was kind of surprising for me,” said Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu. “I didn’t expect to hear some boos [at] him because he’s a really good person, really good player. He did a lot for the team and us.”
“He did a lot of great things for that organization, so kind of disappointed hearing the boos, but it is what it is,” said Giants starter Logan Webb.
Just over a year ago, it would have been difficult to imagine Devers receiving such treatment – or, for that matter, not playing for the Sox. In the fallow period following the 2018 title, he was a cornerstone — a lineup constant regardless of health, the team’s best player, a wildly entertaining performer.
“He was a one-of-a-kind guy, a special, special teammate,” said reliever Garrett Whitlock. “He’s an unbelievable hitter.”
When Devers signed a 10-year extension through 2034, it was with the expectation he’d be the bridge from the last Sox title team to the next one. Instead, he was dealt to the Giants last June with more than eight years remaining.
The trade came just over a month after Devers, who reluctantly agreed to become a DH in spring training, refused to consider playing first after teammate Triston Casas’s season-ending injury, then publicly challenged chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s handling of the situation. Had he tried to play first, he’d likely still be with the Sox.
Does he regret anything that happened in that time?
“No,” Devers said.
Has he changed since the trade?
“I think I have matured. . . . As an athlete, there’s things that are going to happen, and what you have to do is move forward and learn from that,” he said. “I don’t want to think about the past. I don’t want to talk about the past. But at the same time, we’re all men, we’re all grown-ups. . . . You make mistakes and you have to move on and mature.”
The fact that Devers has moved on — that he was at Fenway as a visitor — remains a source of sadness to former teammates.
“He put me under his wings and taught me the game and about life,” said Ceddanne Rafaela. “He meant a lot to me and still means a lot to me.”
“Nobody was sour about anything he did,” said Whitlock. “The relationship happened between him and Breslow and the front office, that was the relationship that went sour. All the [players], as far as I’m concerned, still love him.”
As a Giant, Devers — splitting time between DH and first — is the best hitter on a bad (52-76) team. He’s hitting .245/.321/.475 with 26 homers, overcoming an awful April to post strong numbers.
“He’s still kind of been the main stick in the middle of the lineup, and his numbers have kind of started to work themselves out to show you who Raffy Devers is,” said Giants manager Tony Vitello.
The Sox, meanwhile, have found life after Devers. One of the players acquired for him, pitcher Kyle Harrison, was the key piece in the spring training deal that netted catalyst Caleb Durbin. Willson Contreras, who homered Friday, has given the Sox a masher at first base.
Would the Sox have acquired Contreras last offseason had Devers been their first baseman? Would Devers have DH’d alongside Contreras? Would Durbin be with the team had Devers remained? Would the Sox be better with Devers?
No one knows. The end of Devers’s time in Boston and its aftermath remains filled with unknowable what-ifs that stirred Fenway’s emotional cauldron on Friday.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.