Alex Cora is tiptoeing around David Price's atrocious track record against the Yankees. In Cora's weekly interview with Dale & Keefe Thursday, the Red Sox skipper dismissed Price's most recent monstrosity –– eight runs in 3.1 innings on Sunday night –– as an aberration.
"His stuff wasn't great, but he wasn't that far off from his last six or seven starts," Cora said. "I feel they did an outstanding job game-planning for that. You see the home runs –– the pitch to Judge, it was up and in, he was able to stay inside and hit it to center field. (Aaron) Hicks hits a breaking ball, which David doesn't throw often, and he stays back and hits it to center field. (Gleybar) Torres, cutter down and in, pitch inside and he goes the other way. I think it was one of those –– it was a combination of both. You have to give credit to those guys and like David said, we've got to sit down, take a look at the game plan, and the next time he pitches, we'll take a look at adjustments and see how it goes."
Overall, Cora said he isn't alarmed by his team's series loss in the Bronx last weekend. In fact, he says it was beneficial that the two losses were blowouts, because it allowed the Red Sox to set up their bullpen for their series against the Nationals this week. Boston swept Washington in three games.
"The good thing about that series, and I know this sounds bad, but if we were going to lose, have it be that way," Cora explained. "The bullpen was fresh. We went to the Nationals and say what happened the first game. We had to use Joe (Kelly) and (Matt Barnes) and (Craig) Kimbrel for a four-out save. As bad as the series was, it was 2-1, and we moved on and stayed healthy and are rested for the Nationals. That doesn't happen too often. Do we want competitive games? Of course. But you have to pick out the positives, and our bullpen was rested and we were able to use it in Washington."
Cora also said he was encouraged by Eduardo Rodriguez's shutdown outing Wednesday, especially considering the lefty's struggles against the Yankees Friday night. Rodriguez used his changeup with more regularity against the Nationals, and it worked to his advantage.
"This is a guy whose changeup is one of the better in the league," Cora explained. "It really doesn't matter if you throw 94, 95. If you don't use your secondary pitch the way you should, you're going to get hit. Perfect example is Chris Sale. You saw that outing in New York. He threw lots of changeups and lots of sliders. He would throw 98, 99, but even then, when guys are hucking fastballs, you have to use your secondary pitch. He did an outstanding job doing just that."
On the injury front, Cora said he's looking forward to using Tyler Thornburg in high-leverage spots right away. Cora said he envisions using Thornburg as a bridge to reach Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes, but his role could expand. Thornburg hasn't pitched for the Red Sox since they acquired him from the Brewers for Travis Shaw in 2016.
As far as Dale Arnold's report last week that Dustin Pedroia is working out at TB12 as part of his rehab, Cora claimed ignorance. "I'll call (Pedroia) to see what's going on," he joked.
