Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Red Sox manager Alex Cora: Saturday's loss one of worst days since he took over

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 8/5/23

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was enraged at his team following a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, and he had plenty of good reason to be.

It was so bad that he called it one of his worst days since taking over as the team's manager back in the 2018 season.

So what all went wrong?

For one, the game ended on an absolutely dreadful display of base-running when Reese McGuire, the potential tying run, was doubled off of second base on a deep fly ball by Connor Wong.

"The Red Sox run themselves out of the ballgame, here."

"That is so unfortunate. You just can't do that right there." pic.twitter.com/81wlTml6Ga
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 5, 2023

There was no need for McGuire to be rounding third and heading for home at that point because the ball was either going to leave the park for a game-winning home run, hit off the wall and allow him to easily score to tie the game, or be caught. The latter happened.

The correct course of action here would have been to go halfway. McGuire did not do that, and the game ended.

Cora was also enraged at veteran Alex Verdugo, making him a late scratch from the game.

Cora called it a "manager's decision" and said that Verdugo was at the ballpark but was not available. All of that points to the logical conclusion of his benching being some sort of disciplinary action on Cora's part.

Along with calling it one of his worst day's as the Red Sox manager, he also said the team took a significant step backward.

The Red Sox are 57-53 following the loss and in last place in the American League East after the New York Yankees won on Saturday afternoon. They are also four games out of an American League wild-card spot with three teams ahead of them, including the Toronto team that beat them on Saturday.

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