Prior to the Red Sox-Angels series finale in Anaheim, Calif., Alex Cora had a brief chat with Shohei Ohtani.
Cora wasn’t trying to recruit the uber-talented Ohtani to Boston, which the Red Sox manager made clear to a Japanese reporter, but it wasn’t a simple exchange of pleasantries, either. According to MassLive, Cora asked Ohtani for an autographed baseball he could give to Chih-Jung Liu, a Taiwanese Red Sox pitching prospect who currently is finding success in Double-A Portland. Ohtani, who Cora described as “a cool cat,” agreed to fulfill the request.
The gift for Liu wasn’t the only baseball Ohtani dished out Wednesday. The dual-threat phenom blasted a solo home run to left-center field in the third inning off of Boston starter James Paxton. It was one of three round-trippers the Halos clubbed in their 7-3 win, which sealed a three-game sweep over the Red Sox.
Boston, loser of four consecutive games, will try to reset and refresh on its Thursday off day. From there, the Red Sox on Friday will kick off the final leg of their nine-game West Coast road trip in Arizona. NESN’s complete coverage of the series opener against the Diamondbacks will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET.
