NEW YORK — Saturday’s drama between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox may carry over into the final game of the season between the two rivals.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora insinuated that starting pitcher Brayan Bello purposefully threw at Yankees superstar Aaron Judge in the sixth inning as revenge for Gerrit Cole hitting Rafael Devers in the first inning. Cora was asked if he considered Saturday’s Devers’ intentional walk and hit-by-pitch incident closed.
“It was closed yesterday around the sixth inning,” Cora said. “We had our chance. It didn’t happen and we have to move on.”
Bello threw a 97.4 mph sinker behind Judge’s back on a 0-0 count; he then threw a 97.2 mph four-seam fastball far inside and off the plate. Cora said he spoke with Judge after the game and called it a “professional” conversation, but he wouldn’t divulge what was discussed.
He also spoke with Yankees manager Aaron Boone after the game. Boone and Cole were both adamant that they did not throw at Devers. Boone said on Sunday that he believes Cora was playing up the moment to help provide a spark for a team outside the postseason picture.
“I think it’s a manager that’s using that moment to rally his troops a little bit as they’re fighting for their playoff lives,” Boone said. “They’re playing for a lot over there. And I think it’s an opportunity to kind of galvanize them a little bit. Probably a little gamesmanship to it. So that’s part of it.”
Cora said he hopes what happens Saturday is the moment that propels them into the postseason. Entering Sunday’s game against the Yankees, the Red Sox were 3 1/2 games back of the sixth seed, but they need to leapfrog the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners. FanGraphs estimates Boston has a 6.2 percent chance of making the wild-card round.
“If this happens (making the playoffs), we’re going to look back at (Saturday,)” Cora said. “We’re probably going to thank Gerrit Cole for getting us going. Hopefully, it happens. Hopefully, we can face him in the playoffs because he will have to pitch to him. We still have a long way to go. I’m not promising that we’re going to make the playoffs, but if we do, we’re going to look back on Saturday.”
This story will be updated postgame.
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(Photo: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)
