“This is probably one of my worst days here in this organization,” Alex Cora said on Saturday evening.
It was a moment of candor that was about something much bigger than his team’s frustrating 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Alex Verdugo was a late scratch from Saturday afternoon’s lineup, and even when the game ended, his manager wouldn’t say why.
“We have to make sure everybody’s available every single day here for us to get wherever we’re going to go, and that wasn’t the case,” Cora said. “As a manager, I gotta take charge of this, and I decided he wasn’t going to play.”
Did something happen? Was he late? The visibly-frustrated manager answered those initial follow-up questions, “I decided he’s not going to play.”
“I’m just taking care of the 26 guys (on the roster), and he wasn’t gonna play,” Cora added. When asked if it was accurate to describe the situation as disciplinary reasons, he would only answer “Manager’s decision.”
Lineup changes happen all the time (the Blue Jays swapped Danny Jansen out for fellow catcher Alejandro Kirk within the hour before first pitch), but the radio silence regarding the Verdugo move raised eyebrows. The Red Sox made the announcement just moments after Cora’s pregame media availability, a decision which appeared tactical, given that the manager also wouldn’t go into details when reporters checked in with him during batting practice.
This isn’t the first time this season that Cora has decided to bench Verdugo. In the spring, he announced that he wasn’t going to play the outfielder due to lack of hustle.
“That was a different situation,” the manager said. “The manager decided he wasn’t going to play, and he has his reasons.”
“I think today, we took a step back as a team,” Cora admitted. Asked to elaborate, he launched into an impassioned speech.
“We have to be available. Everybody has to be available for us to do this. We have to be available, from coaches, to players, to analysts, to the front office. Everybody has to be involved every single day. That’s the bottom line. And today, one guy wasn’t available.”
It was then that Cora called this one of his worst days as a member of the Red Sox.
“I feel responsible, because I’m the leader of this team,” he said. “He was ready to play, but he wasn’t available. I decided he wasn’t going to play.”
It appears having this issue hanging over their heads put a damper on the game.
The Boston bullpen looked exhausted, cracks finally starting to show after two months of cobbling together games at least once each time through the rotation. Entering Saturday’s game, the Red Sox ranked ninth in the majors with a 3.79 relief ERA, but the usually dominant Nick Pivetta, Brennan Bernardino, and Chris Martin all faltered in the loss.
The Blue Jays took advantage, though not as much as they could’ve. While Jose Berrios spun 5 ⅔ solid innings, the Toronto lineup was relentless, piling up five runs on 14 hits. Brandon Belt got his team on the board with a solo home run, and after making his major league debut on Friday night and homering in his first big-league at-bat, Davis Schneider continued his impressive weeking with his first career 3-hit game.
Stellar defense from Yu Chang and Pablo Reyes, another Houdini-esque performance by Josh Winckowski, Rafael Devers’ 26th home run of the season, and a lot of luck kept the Red Sox in this game. Entering the top of the ninth, the Blue Jays led 4-3, but were 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position with 11 men left on base.
The Red Sox escaped jam after jam, but it wasn’t enough to spur them to capitalize on the chances they got. Other than the bottom of the fourth, when Masataka Yoshida, Justin Turner, and Rafael Devers began the inning with back-to-back singles and a game-tying home run, respectively, the Boston bats couldn’t catch a break.
The Red Sox finally made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Adam Duvall and pinch-hitter Reese McGuire collected back-to-back 1-out singles, then Luis Urias drove home Duvall, leaving McGuire the tie run at second. Connor Wong then hit a drive that Kevin Kiermaier caught at the base of the left-center field wall. McGuire had rounded third, and Kiermaier fired to second to double him up. Game over.
According to Cora, they all thought it was a walk-off hit, even a home run.
Instead, they walked off the field after another loss.
In a nearly silent, empty clubhouse, Verdugo faced the media. He, too, wouldn’t go into details.
“Just a manager’s decision,” he said carefully. “We’re gonna leave it at that.”
Like Cora, Verdugo answered most questions with a variation of the same sentiment.
“Just a manager’s decision,” he reiterated, “I don’t really want to go too far into it, it’s just his decision.”
Verdugo looked confused when asked if he took accountability.
“Do I take accountability for what?” He responded. “I mean, yeah, I guess.”
Asked if he’d been on time, he said yes.
Not long after, MLB.com’s Ian Browne reported that Verdugo had only arrived “roughly two hours before game time.”
Asked if Verdugo would play on Sunday, Cora wasn’t sure.