The Boston Red Sox dropped the first of their three-game set against the Minnesota Twins on Monday, falling 4-2 in a game that was defined by unforced errors.
Not only did the pitching staff hand out six walks in the loss, something that would drive any manager crazy, but Boston's defense made a few unforced errors -- something Alex Cora takes personally.
The most notable mistake came in the third inning, when third baseman Rafael Devers scooped up a could-be double play ball and strolled to third base for the force out without making an attempt at the twin killing. The play was confusing in real time, as it was unclear what Devers was thinking during the play, but Cora confirmed a mistake was made following the game.
"He forgot the outs," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. " ... For me, I take pride in all of that stuff. Sometimes I fell it's on us coaches, it's on me as manager (to prevent mental errors). It's been happening too much, we forgot the outs in Baltimore, the first series we played there.
"... We've talked about it and all that, obviously they're professionals, they understand and they are humans too, they make mistakes. But, from my end, I take it personally because we take a lot of pride in this. It's a reflection of who we are. When people watch that, it's our team and we haven't been good at anything base-running wise, defensively and mental lapses."
When asked if he believed Devers had a shot at the double play, Cora was clear in answering, "100%, yes."
Though it didn't come back to hurt them immediately, the play was representative of a larger issue for Boston this season -- they aren't fully locked in. It's also too bad that Devers' web-gem play from earlier in the inning was overshadowed.
Here are more notes from Monday's Red Sox-Twins game:
-- Brayan Bello threw seven-consecutive balls to begin the fifth inning. Red Sox pitchers walked three batters total in the inning, with John Schreiber allowing all three to score against the first batter he faced.
"He's learning a lot and he's going to be okay," Cora said following the game.
-- The Red Sox had 10 hits Monday, but left nine runners on base. Boston pitchers also handed out six walks to the Twins, who left eight runners on.
-- The Red Sox and Twins will continue their three-game set Tuesday night at Target Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, with NESN 360.
