Alex Cora seemingly has pushed all the right buttons for the Boston Red Sox amid their historic start, but the first-year manager won’t take credit for one impressive feat that his team has accomplished.
The Red Sox recorded their 19th win in April on Monday night against the Kansas City Royals — a new franchise record — thanks to an offensive outburst that included a grand slam off the bat of Xander Bogaerts. Boston now has six grand slams on the season, tied for the most in Major League Baseball history before May 1.
The feat is impressive in its own right, but even more so considering Boston didn’t hit any grand slams last season. While Cora’s influence appears to be making a great impact on the Red Sox’s bats, he doesn’t think it’s caused for the plethora of grand slams.
“I didn’t hit a grand slam in my career, by the way,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “It’s not because of me.”
In his 14-year playing career, Cora hit 35 home runs, none of the grand slam variety. Though he probably would have liked to hit a long ball with the bases loaded himself, we have a feeling he’s just as happy watching his players clear the bags.
