Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was none too pleased with the performance of his team and the umpires involved in Monday’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
In turn, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was none too pleased with Cora.
Cora, who was ejected alongside hitting coach Peter Fatse toward the end of the game for arguing calls behind the dish, was quite frustrated with the performance of umpire Junior Valentine. That led to a short rant from the 47-year-old, who referenced Chris Sale’s disappointing outing in which he induced just two swings-and-misses all day. Hyde seemed to take the reference as a dig at his team.
“I’m not sure what he was getting at,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said Tuesday, per Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner. “Honestly, pretty disappointed hearing that. Thought it was disrespectful to our hitters, to be honest with you. I thought we had a great game plan. I thought great Major League hitters take really good at-bats.”
Cora made it very clear that his beef was not with the Orioles.
“For me to accuse somebody of doing something wrong, I’m the last guy who can say that because I put myself in that situation in ’17,” Cora said in response, per Kostka. “… It’s more about, you have to check what’s going on. A big league pitcher, throwing 97 with a great slider and a good changeup with two swings and misses. That’s it. They’re doing an outstanding job, we know that. … it wasn’t about pointing the finger at them.”
It was a classic case of miscommunication between the two managers, which is something that can become easy given the everyday nature of the sport. Cora added that he’d be looking to clarify directly with Hyde at some point during the series. So, all (will likely be) well.
The Red Sox will look to tie their three-game set with the Orioles on Tuesday. First pitch from Camden Yards is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
