Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora got his first career ejection on Friday night, and he got it done very early in the game.
Red Sox starter Rick Porcello hit New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner with a pitch in the first inning of Friday’s game, though it came on an 0-2 pitch and appeared unintentional. More debatable was Luis Severino’s pitch in the bottom half of the inning to Mookie Betts, which came up and in and knocked down the star outfielder.
Home plate umpire Adam Hamari decided to warn both benches after the pitch to Betts, which Cora did not like. Though he was warned not to come out an argue, he did anyway, and decided to get his money’s worth after his very early ejection.
Ump wanted none of Alex Cora pic.twitter.com/Yzu2gFAruH
— Sox Lunch (@Soxlunch) August 3, 2018
Cora was likely infuriated over the fact that his team can’t engage in any sort of retaliation and have to be very careful now when pitching inside. The unwritten rules usually dictate that teams can police the game themselves, and a bit of eye-for-an-eye is usually allowed, rightly or wrongly. The Red Sox won’t get that chance here, as they’d contend they did nothing wrong in the top of the inning.
These two teams engaged in some on-field fisticuffs back in April. It’s entirely possible some bad feelings still linger nearly four months later.
