NEW YORK -- Gerrit Cole stepped off the mound, flashing four fingers wide to point Rafael Devers toward first base. After years of being hit hard by the Red Sox slugger, the Yankees’ ace seemed ready to try a new strategy.

Cole walked Devers intentionally with the bases empty and one out in the fourth inning on Saturday, an unorthodox nod of respect from the hurler toward his arch-nemesis. Devers looked back quizzically at home plate umpire Marvin Hudson, then tossed his bat aside.

The decision soon backfired for Cole and the Yankees, setting up a three-run Boston inning that unraveled the hurler’s afternoon and prompted numerous questions following New York’s 7-1 loss at Yankee Stadium.

“Clearly, that was a mistake,” Cole said. “I think that I bought into the plan going into it, but afterward, it was the wrong move.”

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, Cole has not been shy about his struggles against Devers, who came into Saturday’s action with 13 hits in 39 at-bats (.333) and eight home runs off Cole. Those eight homers are the most against any opponent for both Cole and Devers.

In fact, during a press conference at Yankee Stadium earlier this week honoring Hispanic Heritage Day, Cole was asked which Latin hitter has given him the most trouble. He did not hesitate: "Rafael Devers."

Devers’ dominance was also a topic in the Yanks’ pre-series meetings.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that the team discussed being open to intentionally walking Devers in non-traditional spots. Still, given the game situation, he thought Cole was “overthinking the situation,” and he would have liked his ace to go after Devers.

“Once we scored the run [in the third inning], my preference would have been, ‘Let’s attack him,’” Boone said. “But obviously, I didn’t communicate that well enough. I think Gerrit was a little indecisive out there and rolled with it.”

Cole said he spoke with pitching coach Matt Blake, noting that because of a thin bullpen, intentionally walking Devers “might be the most efficient way to keep the line moving” while allowing Cole to keep a low pitch count. Once Cole signaled for the walk, Boone said he “didn’t want to get involved.”

Curiously, catcher Austin Wells said that he was “caught off guard” by the intentional walk, which he believed shifted the momentum in Boston’s favor.

“I was not in that conversation,” Wells said. “I didn’t know that was in the plans.”

After the free pass, Devers promptly stole second base. Cole walked the next batter, Tyler O’Neill, then surrendered a run-scoring Masataka Yoshida double and a two-run Wilyer Abreu single. The Yankees had a one-run lead coming into the inning, and they walked off the field trailing 3-1.

It was the earliest bases-empty intentional walk issued by the Yankees on record. Two were issued in the sixth inning: to the Athletics’ Al Simmons in 1930 (by Roy Sherid) and the Senators’ Frank Howard in 1970 (by Fritz Peterson).

“He caught me by surprise,” Devers said through an interpreter. “I didn’t expect that from a future Hall of Famer. I feel like he panicked a little bit.”

Less than two months ago, on this same diamond, the Blue Jays tipped their cap to a scorching-hot Aaron Judge with a bases-empty, second-inning free pass. The strategy worked in that Aug. 3 game, as the Yankees were turned aside without scoring.

“If I make pitches after that and I continue to execute at a high level, then the plan works,” Cole said. “Evidently, the plan didn’t work. I need to make better pitches afterward in order for it to work.”

The timing also drew scrutiny because Cole had cruised through the first three innings, permitting only one baserunner -- a first-inning hit-by-pitch of Devers. That represented a red flag for Boston manager Alex Cora, who suggested the walk proved that Cole hit Devers intentionally.

“He doesn’t want to face him; that’s the bottom line,” Cora said. “He told us with the intentional walk that the first at-bat, he hit him [intentionally]. We’ll leave it at that.”

Boone disagreed, and Cole responded: “He can believe what he wants to believe. I didn’t hit him on purpose.”

Devers padded his ledger in the fifth, stroking a two-run single off Cole. That hit came with the bases loaded; there was no room to walk Devers that time. Given the outcome of this experiment, chances are that it is a strategy the Yankees won’t care to employ again anytime soon.

“I think we all wish we could go the other way on certain things, right?” Boone said. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t make the pitches when we had opportunities, and it burned us today. So we’ll get past this and get ready for the next one.”