Alex Cora Compliments Connor Wong After Scoring Winning Run In Debut

Red Sox catcher Connor Wong probably didn’t expect he would get on the field Tuesday night when Boston faced the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

But he did, and now its a big-league debut the 25-year-old won’t forget.

Wong, who was called up Tuesday, was the pinch runner in the 11th inning of a tie game. He started off the game at second base and ultimately proved to be the game-winning run as Boston scored four times in the 11th to claim a 9-5 win in extra innings.

It earned some recognition from Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

“Wong did a good job with his secondary lead at second, his primary lead. It’s not an easy spot, you know?,” Cora said on a postgame video conference.” ‘Hey, go ahead, you’re the winning run so don’t get thrown out, don’t get picked off, don’t get doubled-up.’ But he did a good job and we’re very happy he’s with us.”

Cora said before Tuesday’s game that Wong is expected to play Sunday against the New York Yankees so perhaps we’ll see more from the top 20 prospect then.