Alex Cora doesn’t sound too hung up on his exchange with Justin Verlander on Tuesday night.
In the top of the second in Houston’s 7-3 win over the Red Sox, Verlander was given a pitch clock violation as he faced Adam Duvall. Ordinarily that would be ruled a ball, but Verlander pushed back and said it was a PitchCom issue.
The clock violation was wiped, which prompted the Red Sox manager to come out and discuss the situation with home plate umpire Pat Hoberg. At that time Verlander was returning from the dugout with a new PitchCom device. Hot mics were nearby, so they caught Verlander explaining himself briefly before saying “F— off, Alex.”
From Verlander’s end, there didn’t seem to be any malice afterwards towards Cora, who was his bench coach for a few months months after joining the Astros in 2017. Cora responded Wednesday on Gresh & Fauria, and he indicated that there’s no bad blood.
“I have a good relationship with him," Cora said. "Obviously what he’s done throughout his career has been amazing. I was with him in 2017 for two months, and what he does on a yearly basis is amazing.
“Yesterday, that’s one of the best games he pitched against us in a while. The fastball was good, the breaking ball was good. The only thing I took exception was kind of like – and this happened in New York and it has happened lately with the pitch clock and PitchCom. It has happened to us where it doesn’t work, the pitcher calls time.
“In that situation, Pat called time and called the pitch violation and it’s a ball. It was the third time it had happened with Adam Duvall, so I just went up there and let him know how I felt about it. And it is like protecting my player, JV was kind of telling me what happened and I was like just go out there and pitch, and then he blew me off or whatever. But no, no big deal. We have a great relationship, he’s a good player and I have the utmost respect for him.”
Wednesday’s situation is part of a bigger issue around the league with the intersection of PitchCom and the pitch clock. There are legitimate technical breakdowns that happen with PitchCom, but there is also increased suspicion that players might be overstating the tech problems in moments to get some extra time.
Either way, the spat clearly didn’t shake Verlander, who held the Sox scoreless with nine strikeouts across six innings.
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