Eduardo Nunez’s favorite story about Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, in the moment, was hardly a laughing matter.
Locked in a June extra-innings battle with the Baltimore Orioles, Nunez was drilled in the 12 in the stomach by a 12th-inning slider that sent him to the ground. Team medical staff and Cora ran out to check on him, and cameras caught the skipper chuckling as he squatted down next to Nunez (which you can watch here).
After the game, Cora explained the reasoning behind the laughter.
“Well he was going, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, am I going to die, am I going to die, am I going to die?’” Cora said at the time, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “I felt so bad, I just, I couldn’t stop, so whatever at least he made me laugh in the 12th inning of a close game. But yeah, that was hilarious.
“He’s not dead, he’s alive,” Cora added.
Fast forward to Wednesday, and MLB Network Radio shared a video of Nunez telling his favorite Cora story, which was about the ordeal in Baltimore. The utility man couldn’t hold back laughter as he told his side of things.
Nunez and Cora will have a chance to laugh together once more in 2019, as Nunez exercised his player option for next season to help Boston defend its World Series title.
