Alex Cora Wants Red Sox To ‘Execute’ This Instead Of Changing Lineup

The Boston Red Sox are 2- 3 on their six-game road trip. They have one final contest on Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers to end their latest two-game skid.

After being outscored 24-11 in the first two games against the Tigers with an overall record of 22-22, the Red Sox would again miss the playoffs if the season ended today.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora understands Boston fans are begging for top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer to be called up from Triple-A Worcester. However, the skipper thinks that if the Red Sox “execute” their pitches, things would be very different for Boston.

“I think that’s the most important thing, especially in the later part of the game,” Cora said on his weekly appearance on WEEI, per Tom Carroll. “You know, there’s been a lot of damage done against us. You can go to the series against Minnesota, right? You know, we lost that one. We had a chance to get them two out of three, even sweep them, right? And we didn’t execute pitches.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of talk about what some of the guys are doing in the minor leagues, right? And obviously, they’re really good at what they do. But we have some good players here, and they’re doing their job. I think defense can improve. And obviously the pitching part of it, especially when we have the lead late in games.”

The Red Sox lost a back-and-forth battle in extra innings on Tuesday to the Tigers after Javier Báez tagged Greg Weissert with a walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning.

Cora is hoping to turn the page and secure a win in the series finale before heading to Fenway Park for a 10-game homestand against the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles.

“It’ll be good to finish strong this road trip. Play good today, and win the ball game. We got an off day tomorrow, and then it’s a long homestand,” Cora said. “And we’ve been talking about this for the last two or three years. We have to be better at home.

“We face the Braves, we face the Mets, and then Baltimore. Having that great homestand that we haven’t had in years, it feels like we haven’t had a long winning streak either. So, you know – 8 out of 10, 13 out of 15, 13 out of 16, that would be great. And if we do that, then you can survive for a week. Play .500, and then you go right after it, you know? And that’s how winning teams do it.”