Alex Cora Makes Admission After Garrett Crochet’s Near No-Hitter

Alex Cora couldn’t get to the Guaranteed Rate Field mound fast enough Sunday afternoon.

Cora had a front-row seat to a special performance from Garrett Crochet in the Red Sox-White Sox series finale. Boston’s ace overpowered Chicago hitters by striking out 11 and taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning at his old stomping grounds.

Chase Meidroth, one of the prospects the Red Sox gave up to acquire Crochet, ultimately broke up the no-no with a one-out single in the penultimate frame. The star southpaw had thrown 96 pitches by that point, and Cora was eager to cap Crochet’s workload.

“Honestly I’ve never been so happy for the opponent to get a hit,” Cora told reporters, per The Boston Globe.

Boston’s manager continued: “It’s not easy, man. You’re in that dugout and you have a chance to do something special but at the same time you have to balance our season.”

Sure, a no-hitter would have been nice for Crochet and the Red Sox organization as a whole. By Sunday’s primary objective for Boston was avoiding a sweep, and the 2024 All-Star helped the club do so by putting together one of the best outings of his young career.

The Red Sox now will try to ride the momentum gained from Crochet’s masterpiece into Monday’s series opener in Tampa Bay. NESN’s complete coverage of Game 1 against the Rays begins at 6 p.m. ET.