Red Sox’s Alex Cora Cites ‘Rule No. 1’ After Boston’s Latest Shakeup

The middling Red Sox set two personnel changes in motion Tuesday.

Prior to a second straight extra-innings loss to the Colorado Rockies at Fenway Park, Alex Cora announced a pair of defensive adjustments. Kiké Hernández no longer will serve as Boston’s starting shortstop and will see most of his playing time at second base and in the outfield. Triston Casas, meanwhile, is slated to see a bit less time on the diamond, giving way for veteran corner infielder Justin Turner to play more first base.

Cora couldn’t stress the importance of good defense enough when he revealed the club’s latest changes.

“That’s Rule No. 1. You play bad defense, you don’t win games. That’s the bottom line,” Cora told reporters, per MassLive. “When you give the opposition more than 27 outs, they’re going to cash in. We can go back, the last 10 days, certain plays we didn’t make that gave the opposition an extra run.”

The Red Sox currently are riding a streak of five straight games with at least one error. Boston will try to put an end to that skid Wednesday night when it wraps up its three-game interleague set with Colorado.

NESN’s full coverage of the series finale begins at 6 p.m. ET.