Alex Cora Perfectly Describes 2021 Red Sox After Gritty Win Over Rays

This Boston Red Sox team is nothing if not resilient.

That was on full display Tuesday night.

Facing one of the top teams in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox needed extra innings to grind out a victory. There were lead changes, errors, missed opportunities, you name it. But for whatever missteps felled them, the Red Sox found a way to grind out a victory, the end result being a 9-5, 11-inning win at Tropicana Field.

That’s been the nature of this Red Sox team as a whole. They’re a group of rag-tag veterans getting more consistent playing time than at previous points in their careers, mixed with exciting youngsters. And except for maybe two games this season, they’ve hung around until the final out is recorded.

Alex Cora is steering the ship and he gave the perfect summation of his group late Tuesday night.

“If you take a look at the guys that we have in this roster, they have to earn everything that they have,” Cora said, via The Boston Globe. “We’ve got a bunch of grinders, a bunch of guys that on other teams they didn’t play that much. They’re getting their opportunity to play here. We just like to play baseball. It’s a good baseball team.

“We still have to get better in certain things, I keep saying it. But at the end of the day, you tell us where and when, what time, it doesn’t matter. If it takes 2 hours and 45 minutes — or whatever it took today — we will push until the end, no matter the result.”

For that reason, this year’s team has been a fun bunch to watch. And, to answer Cora’s question, Tuesday’s win took four hours and 21 minutes.

The Sox and Rays will face each other again Wednesday in the middle contest of their three-game set.