Alex Cora Shares ‘No Excuses’ Reminder After Red Sox ‘Mistake’

The Red Sox won by one run Tuesday night, but they probably should have beat the Nationals by more.

Trailing Washington by one run in the fourth inning at Nationals Park, Boston had a chance to do major damage with the bases loaded and no outs. Alex Verdugo got the ball rolling with a sacrifice fly, but it was met with a baserunning blunder.

All of the Red Sox runners on base tried to advance on Verdugo’s deposit to center field. While Jarren Duran scored with ease and Pablo Reyes successfully scampered to third, Reese McGuire was thrown out at second base. The game was tied, but Boston suddenly was faced with two outs and only one on.

That runner came across to score, as Reyes darted home on a wild pitch to give the Red Sox a lead they didn’t relinquish. Still, Alex Cora wasn’t pleased with what happened on the basepaths beforehand.

“We made a bad baserunning mistake, and then we got lucky with the wild pitch,” Cora told reporters, per MLB.com. “We cannot do that. You know, we went from bases loaded, no outs to man at third and two outs. So we cannot do that. There’s no more excuses about that.”

McGuire’s overaggressiveness really was the only mishap for Boston in the interleague series opener. The Red Sox collected a few timely hits and received a stellar collective performance from their bullpen. It showed if Boston plays a mostly clean brand of baseball, it’s a tough team to beat.

Cora’s crew will try to keep it rolling Wednesday in the middle game against the Nats. NESN’s coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET.