The defensive play of the game Tuesday night at Fenway Park was clouded with controversy.
With the Rays leading the Red Sox 3-1 in the seventh inning, Manuel Margot lifted a towering shot to left field with runners on first and second and only one out. Boston left fielder Franchy Cordero leaped up against the Green Monster, came down with the ball in his glove and threw back into the infield to double up a runner, ending the inning.
The game-changing play needed to be reviewed, however, as a noticeable thud was heard when Cordero jumped to make the catch, suggesting the ball rattled off the tin wall. But upon official review, umpires upheld the original call and the Red Sox rode the momentum to a walk-off win in the 12th inning.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the manager in each dugout had a different take on what went down.
“His reaction right away, I knew he had it,” Alex Cora said after the game, per MLB.com. “There was a lot of people running around. We were just trying to tell Xander (Bogaerts) to step on the bag. Off the bat, I thought it was over the wall, and all of a sudden he made the play.”
Kevin Cash countered: “It did sound like it (hit the wall), but I’m sure MLB had plenty of camera angles to say that it didn’t. From our vantage point, we felt like it hit. I think even in replay, we felt like it hit.”
Cash and the Rays will try to avoid a sweep Wednesday afternoon when the American League East rivals wrap up their three-game series. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET.
