After pitching relatively well after his return to the MLB roster in 2011, Devine struggled in late July during his last three outings of that month (Devine attributed control issues to heat and lack of grip during a heat wave in which temps. were over 100F). On July 22, 2011, he walked three consecutive Yankees, throwing a wild pitch behind Brandon Laird to initiate the latter's debut major-league at-bat. His control issues lead to his being demoted back to Sacramento River Cats on July 28, 2011, despite the fact that many of the earned runs he had acquired to that point were inherited after he stepped off the mound. Prior to his last three outings, Devine was one of the leading pitchers on Oakland's MLB pitching staff statistically: 2.14 ERA and declining, over 9K/9 innings, and high octane pitch speeds of up to 97 MPH, with additional nasty off speed pitch movement in his slider, low hits/outs ratio, hitters average under .200, no homers allowed, and an average walk rate.