Red Sox’s Alex Cora Has Way To Fix Runner Interference Rule

Boston Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire has been on the right side of many catcher’s interference calls already this season.

But in Thursday’s win over the Kansas City Royals, it was McGuire getting called out due to another interference rule.

McGuire led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a dribbler down the third-base line that was fielded by Royals catcher Freddy Fermin. Fermin fired on to first but his throw sailed wide, allowing McGuire to reach. But McGuire didn’t stay at first base for long as umpires ruled he was running inside the baseline when the throw took place, which resulted in an automatic out.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t have much to argue about, either.

“He was inside, running inside,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “That’s a tough one. Whenever something happens at first, they drop it or whatever, usually that’s what happens. It’s so hard to stay on the line. It’s been going on for years. We saw (Washington Nationals manager) Dave Martinez in the World Series and this year talking about it.”

The baserunning miscue didn’t end up hurting the Red Sox with their pitching shutting out the Royals. Boston also caught a lucky break on a bizarre play in Wednesday’s win.

The specific infraction by McGuire doesn’t happen too often in Major League Baseball, but Cora believes there’s a fix to the situation by implementing an element used in softball.

“At one point, they got to put the orange bag in foul territory and by that time, we’re going to be OK,” Cora said.