Red Sox

Watch: Red Sox fan snags Rafael Devers’ broken bat out of the air with one hand

"I was like ‘I got to grab that thing.'"

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

October 20, 2021

A Red Sox fan made an incredible one-handed catch when Rafael Devers hit a broken bat grounder in the second inning of Game 5, snagging the shard of Devers’ bat that flew dangerously into the stands.

Fan makes a great catch on an extremely sharp broken bat that flew directly into the crowd pic.twitter.com/KwAiR0c32M
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 20, 2021

“How good is that?” FOX broadcaster Joe Buck enthused.

“That is amazing. What could have happened,” color announcer John Smoltz said.

Buck later called the man “the hero of the second inning.”

A Twitter user later tracked him down in the stands and discovered that his name is Matt Ferrera from Plymouth. Yahoo Sports’ Hannah Keyser discovered that Ferrera, 41, was in the stands with his aunt Carmen.

“I just saw the bat coming and I was like, ‘I got to grab that thing,'” Ferrera told Keyser.

Here is Matt Ferrera, 41, of Plymouth with his aunt Carmen, who got them the seats, and the splinter of Rafael Devers’ bat that he snagged out of the air.

“I just saw the bat coming and I was like ‘I got to grab that thing.’”

He says his life did not flash before his eyes. pic.twitter.com/vushNap1qW
— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) October 20, 2021

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Devers’ broken bat was predictive of the team’s performance offensively in Game 5. They could not mount a significant offensive threat against Astros starter Frambers Valdez through six innings and were kept off the bases completely through four. They trailed the Astros 7-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

The series was tied 2-2 entering Wednesday’s contest.