Almost immediately after the Boston Red Sox pounded New York Yankees ace Luis Severino in Game 3 of their American League Division Series matchup, reports and theories started to filter out about how Alex Cora’s club knew what was coming from the hard-throwing right-hander.
The TBS broadcast caught Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts appearing to predict Severino’s pitches while in the dugout, and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported people within the Yankees organization believed the Red Sox had a beat on what he throwing.
On Oct. 12, Ben Harris of The Athletic published a video breakdown of how Severino might have been tipping his pitches, and Cora is annoyed his team didn’t pick up on it.
The Red Sox manager spoke to the media ahead of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros on Wednesday. Cora was asked about the Astros’ possible cheating scandal — which Houston was cleared of — and he riffed on the state of the game before briefly discussing Severino.
“That’s part of the game — tippers, stealing signs from second, coaches moving,” Cora said, via ASAP Sports transcripts. “That’s what I said yesterday, we’re playing in an era of paranoia. When a hitter takes a good slider, either he was tipped by a coach or the pitcher was tipping his pitches.
“The other day there was an article on The Athletic, I think it was, that they showed Severino with his head tipping his pitches. I was upset because we didn’t see that one. Honestly.”
That one.Â
It certainly would make sense that the Red Sox had something on Severino, as the Sox jumped on him early, tagging him for six runs in three-plus innings.
