It didn’t take long for Alex Cora’s excitement to manage the 2018 Boston Red Sox to reach new levels.
The Red Sox manager’s team opened its spring training slate Thursday with a pair of wins over Northeastern and Boston College. It was a relatively unspectacular day with the primary objective to just get feet wet and ease into the spring schedule. One small thing, however, really had Cora raving after the twin bill.
The play came in the top of the second inning. The Northeastern hitter lifted a lazy fly ball down the left-field line. Andrew Benintendi started after the ball to his right and settled under it. He had to battle the sun, but it was about as routine as it got.
However, Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. drifted over when the ball came off the bat. At the first sign of even the slightest trouble, Bradley went into a sprint to back up Benintendi. By the time Benintendi put the ball away, Bradley was basically standing in straightaway left field.
“The play that caught my eye out of the 14 innings was a flyball to left field, and the starting center fielder of the Boston Red Sox is backing up him,” Cora raved after the game. “You don’t see that. I was like, wait — I’ve got it in my notes to make a point (Friday). The way he plays, the way he goes about his business… I heard about it, I saw it (Thursday) in batting practice, you see that from him. Man, if that’s the effort I’m going to get from them, I know I’m in a great spot, but this is awesome. This is cool.”
