Red Sox manager Alex Cora reacts to White Sox’ controversy, would handle situation differently

The controversy that’s taken over the baseball world this week is an interesting one for Alex Cora to process, and maybe even a little awkward.

It started on Monday, when White Sox designated hitter Yermin Mercedes swung at a 3-0 pitch and homered off a Twins position player in a blowout game, which sparked yet another controversy about the unwritten rules of the game. It continued Tuesday, when Mercedes was thrown at by the Twins, and White Sox manager Tony La Russa, who had already criticized Mercedes’ actions on Monday, inexplicably did not come to the defense of his own player.

“I wasn’t that suspicious,” La Russa said on if he thought the pitch thrown at Mercedes was intentional. “I’m suspicious when someone throws at someone’s head. I didn’t have a problem with how the Twins handled that.”

Cora has a strong relationship with La Russa, who was a special assistant with the Red Sox in 2018 and 2019. But even he knew there was a problem with La Russa’s comments when asked about him Wednesday on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria.”

“To be honest with you, no. I wouldn’t say that,” Cora said. “It’s a tough one. … With all due respect, because I love Tony and he is amazing, he was amazing to me here, I think that was a mistake.”

The Red Sox, ironically, were in a similar situation during their Patriots Day’ rout of the White Sox, when they led by six runs in the seventh and Mercedes was pitching for Chicago. Cora said it was a difficult spot because the White Sox had just scored a run in the top of the inning.

“We were like, how do we go about this?” Cora said on WEEI. “You’re trying to win the game but we have to stop playing. I don’t know, man. …

“They just played the game in the top of the seventh. Do we have to stop playing because we’re up (six)?”

Cora had an idea for what should happen when a team decides to have a position player pitch in a lopsided game.

“I always said, if you bring in a position player to pitch, it’s kind of like waving the white flag,” Cora said on WEEI. “The team that brings the position player, when they’re on offense, they don’t swing the bats. You just throw fastballs and 1-2-3, you don’t have a chance to win the game, you know what I’m saying?”

While that may be up to debate, Cora would have certainly handled the situation differently than La Russa, who made the situation worse with his public comments.

“One thing for sure, we’ll keep it in the clubhouse,” Cora said. “That’s the most important thing and I don’t think it’s about respecting the game or disrespecting the game, I think the game is in a different stage right now. We see so many position players pitching compared to a few years ago. We’ve seen position players pitching the seventh inning. It’s just unfortunate that it’s a topic and it’s what I’ve been talking about the last few days, so we’ll leave it at that.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3vgsclT