How Justin Verlander Addressed Spat With Red Sox’s Alex Cora

If you ask Justin Verlander, his brief war of words with Alex Cora on Tuesday night was a whole bunch of nothing.

Verlander and Cora traded verbal barbs in the second inning of the Astros’ eventual win over the Red Sox at Minute Maid Park. Boston’s manager was upset after he thought the Houston starter falsely claimed he was dealing with a broken PitchCom device to avoid receiving a pitch-clock violation. Verlander, with the help of some colorful language, brushed off Cora’s allegation.

The Red Sox skipper chalked up the incident to “the heat of battle” and stressed he has the “utmost respect” for Verlander. The three-time Cy Young Award winner similarly didn’t make much of the exchange.

“I don’t think he would take offense,” Verlander told reporters, per The Boston Globe. “Hell, he might have been out there trying to rile their guys up, get me flustered, who knows? That was something that, when I was younger, would probably have affected me a lot more than it did now. The old MO against me was to get me to think about anything other than pitching, get me out of my game plan. In part, that was me being like, ‘I’m done with this. You do what you want. You talk to the umpire. I’m going to worry about pitching.’ It wasn’t really directed (at him), even though it was. I’m sure he understands.”

The Red Sox and the Astros will wrap up their four-game series Thursday afternoon. NESN’s complete coverage of the finale begins at 1 p.m. ET.