Daily News back page proves once and for all Rafael Devers owns New York

Yes, the New York Yankees had a phenomenal first two months of the season, as they were the first team in the majors to win 50 games. But they have entered a downward spiral ever since, and have played like the worst team in baseball. The last time they won a series was back in mid-June against the Kansas City Royals.

On Sunday, the Yankees had the chance to bring an end to their six-series drought against the rival Boston Red Sox. But, they were essentially, single-handedly stopped by Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers, who has been dominant against the Bronx Bombers.

With Luis Gil having a dominant outing on Sunday, manager Aaron Boone brought him out for the seventh inning, only for him to give up a solo shot to Devers to break a scoreless tie. It was at that point that Yankees fans were calling for Boone to stop pitching to Devers and just intentionally walk him. But Michael Tonkin pitched to Devers anyway, who hit his second solo homer of the night to give Boston a 3-0 lead.

Devers now has 16 career home runs at new Yankee Stadium as a visiting player, which is tied with Red Sox legend David Ortiz. Devers is now three homers short of tying Jose Bautista for the record. Devers is now the new red Sox star to torment the Yankees for the foreseeable future, and the New York Daily News highlighted that with their back page cover for Monday's edition of the paper.

Rafael Devers the new nightmare for Yankees with dominant Sunday performance

You can't fault Boone for not wanting to intentionally walk Devers in the seventh inning since it was a scoreless tie. The third baseman was 0-for-2 to start the game. However, Devers had been on an absolute tear against the Yankees entering that game.

As Bryan Hoch of MLB.com points out, Devers was slashing .426/.541/.787 while recording five home runs, 13 RBI, and 15 runs in his last 14 games against the Yankees.

What makes Devers' two-homer game that much more impactful is the fact that the Yankees bats were silent after scoring 14 runs the game prior. On Sunday night, the Yankees recorded just four hits in 29 at-bats, with the team going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

It was that kind of night for the Yankees, who have lost 16 of their last 22 games in this recent rut. Yes, Giancarlo Stanton is missing in the lineup, but how is it that the team missing one batter can cause the entire batting order to go silent? We understand when Aaron Judge broke his toe last season at Dodger Stadium that the batting lineup left a lot to be desired. But this team has Juan Soto, a generational superstar. Yet, Soto hasn't been as impressive as he was at the start of the season.

But it has been a common theme for the Boone-led Yankees, as this is now the third-consecutive summer in which they are in the midst of a rough stretch where the team looks lifeless.

Thanks to Devers' showing against the Yankees, the Red Sox are now 7.5 games back of first place in the AL East, and just 4.5 games back of New York for second place.