Red Sox’s Alex Cora Calls Michael Wacha ‘A Guy That We Missed’

The Boston Red Sox avoided a four-game losing streak on Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins, due in large part to the ongoing consistency behind wins-leading right-hander Michael Wacha.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora took no time in highlighting Wacha’s contribution on the mound during his postgame presser.

“He’s been doing that the whole season,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He’s a guy that we missed for a while. The strike-throwing, going deep into the games, understanding what it means to carry the load when we need to. … It was another great outing for him.”

Cora added: “We need an outing like this. We were a little banged up in the bullpen, a little banged up overall, but to go home winning this game, it was good.”

Wacha, who tossed six innings while allowing two earned runs with seven strikeouts on Wednesday, also offered his takeaway — acknowledging the confidence in executing his changeup against opposing hitters.

“I thought it was huge,” Wacha said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I had really good action on it tonight. It was dancing in there pretty well and had pretty good command of it for strikes, and then getting it down whenever I needed to.”

Wacha added: “I feel like that’s when that’s when I’m best. Filling up the zone, keeping that pace going, keeping the pressure on them, getting in pitcher counts, and staying on the attack.”

With his 10th victory of the season, Wacha stands as the lone wins leader for the Red Sox this season. In his last five starts, Wacha has gone 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA — allowing 10 earned runs off 22 hits while striking out 28 batters in a combined 29 2/3 innings pitched.