The moment looked very concerning at the time.
Xander Bogaerts laying on the ground after colliding with Alex Verdugo in the eighth inning of the Red Sox' win over Mariners Thursday night.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, the back ailment that drove the shortstop from the game wasn't considered serious enough to keep him out of the lineup Saturday.
So, with Bogaerts hitting cleanup in the series' third game, Rafael Devers evidently took the opportunity to take a good-natured jab at his teammate.
"We’re just lucky that nothing serious happened. Now we can joke about it. Raffy was actually talking about Bogey early on today that he can play in the Premier League or La Liga with that reaction," joked Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "Now we can laugh, but the way he goes back (on pop-ups) is the way he goes back."
Cora was obviously referencing the reputation some players in soccer's Premier League have when it comes to faking injuries.
The topic of how Bogaerts approaches going after pop-ups was also broached by Cora, who explained the unorthodox approach isn't going to change any time soon.
"It’s tough because the way he goes back is the total opposite of the way you should do it," the manager said. "He backpedals, and he feels comfortable doing that. It’s hard because yesterday Trevor (Story) and Franchy (Cordero) they were coming but he knew it, he felt it. But if you’re backpedaling, you’re not going to know. It’s not going to be Ozzie Smith, diving out because he knew the outfielder was coming in. That’s the way he does it. It’s hard because there’s 35,000 people screaming. Usually as a second baseman, shortstop, you’re going sideways and you can kind of like feel it, feel where he’s at. He’s right there. But for him, it’s difficult. But that’s the way he’s done it his whole career and he’s actually really good at doing it. I saw him backpedaling and I was like, ‘Oh God, this is trouble.’ But like I said, Dugie’s slide he gets it, Xander got it up there."