Red Sox Notes: Alex Cora Pays Respect To Teammate Tim Wakefield

The Boston Red Sox won the final game of their 2023 MLB season by defeating the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Sunday, but they did so with heavy hearts.

Prior to the first pitch, the Red Sox organization announced the passing of former pitcher Tim Wakefield.

“Tough day for us,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We lost a brother, a teammate, a family member. … I was telling the guys, this guy (Wakefield) was one of the best teammates I’ve ever had and this is not BS. This guy was there for us all the time. He was accountable. He was what a Boston Red Sox should look like.”

While the Red Sox won the final game of the year, their season ended by finishing last in the division at 78-84 — the exact replica of the 2022 season. For Cora, the game was not about baseball.

“Another reminder that 162 is just a game. It’s just a freaking game,” Cora said. “… It’s just a sad day for us. A sad day for the organization.

“I’m glad we went out there and we played a clean game. We pitched well. We kind of represented Wake today and in that aspect it was a fun day and I was very proud of this group. To play all the way to the end, that’s something that Wake did as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a player. He played all the way to the end.”

Here are more notes from Sunday’s Red Sox-Orioles game:

— The Red Sox won their final regular season game for the sixth consecutive season, beginning in 2018.

— Boston finished the season 69-29 when scoring four or more runs in a game, 51-26 when scoring first and 24-28 against AL East opponents.

— After splitting the series against the Orioles, the Red Sox completed the season with a 24-25-3 record in series play and 25-27 in series finales.

— Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy and manager Alex Cora will hold the club’s end-of-season press conference at 3 p.m. ET on Monday at Fenway Park. You can watch the press conference on NESN.