The Red Sox endured a difficult day on Saturday, losing on a brutal double play to the division-rival Blue Jays when they had the winning run at the plate. However, the troubles went further than that, as manager Alex Cora benched outfielder Alex Verdugo despite the importance of the game.
At Cora’s postgame press conference, he declined to explain why he benched Verdugo, but MLB.com’s Ian Browne reported that Verdugo arrived late to the ballpark. Still, without specifically naming Verdugo, Cora did explain in a rant that the entire team needs to be more focused moving forward.
“Today, we took a step back as a team,” Cora said. “We have to make sure everybody is available every single day here for us to get to wherever we’ve got to go, and that wasn’t the case. As a manager, I’ve got to take charge of this. I decided he wasn’t gonna play.”
While Cora refused to explicitly disclose the problem, he made sure to send a message to the team in the process.
“We have to be available. Everybody has to be available,” Cora said. “For us to do this, we have to be available. From coaches to players to analysts to the front office, everybody has to be available every single day here. That’s the bottom line, and today, one guy wasn’t available.”
"I think today we took a step back as a team... As the manager, I got to take charge of this"
— NESN (@NESN) August 5, 2023
Alex Cora on their loss against Toronto today | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/HJxTzu2IOI
The incident is the second time this season that Cora has benched Verdugo, as the manager kept the outfielder out of the lineup in a June game due to lack of hustle. When Verdugo spoke with the media, he also didn’t give much of an explanation. But he took responsibility for the benching.
"Manager's decision... We're going to leave it at that. Just be ready to play tomorrow"
— NESN (@NESN) August 5, 2023
Alex Verdugo on being a late scratch from today's lineup | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/Bdp85Z6cGu
“It’s a manager’s decision, and I respect the decision,” Verdugo said. “He’s the head guy here. For me, I take responsibility, but at the end of the day it’s his decision.”
