Welcome to life as a manager, Alex Cora.
Cora is being questioned about his strategy after making his managerial debut for the Boston Red Sox. The Sox were rolling in their season opener on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays. They were up 4-0 through seven innings after an impressive debut from Chris Sale, who threw six innings of one-hit ball. Cora removed Sale after his six scoreless innings in which he threw 92 pitches. Matt Barnes came in and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.
And then the wheels fell off.
Joe Kelly came in to pitch the 8th and gave up three walks and an RBI double, leaving the bases loaded with one out in a 4-1 game. Carson Smith came in to relieve him. He walked in a run, struck out a batter, and then gave up a bases-clearing two-out triple to Denard Span to surrender the lead. He allowed another run to score on an infield hit, making it 6-4 Tampa Bay. They won it by that score after Jesus Colome shut things down in the ninth.
All of the damage by the Rays happened with closer Craig Kimbrel — Boston’s best reliever — sitting in the bullpen.
So why did Cora decline to use Kimbrel during a key part in the game? Cora said after the game that he decided before the game that he would only give Kimbrel a clean inning, meaning not have him enter in the middle of one with people on base.
Alex Cora said decision before the game was a clean inning for Kimbrel. Said bringing him in for the eighth he would have to bring him back out for ninth.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 29, 2018
It’s a long season, so you can somewhat understand Cora not wanting to extend Kimbrel for a save opportunity. But it doesn’t make sense why he thinks he would have had to bring him out for the ninth if he had him pitch the eighth. Why not put him in for the high-leverage situation in the eighth and someone else in for the ninth? That’s a question he’ll have to consider after seeing the opener slip away.
