The Boston Red Sox just had a heart-breaking loss last night to the Baltimore Orioles, losing 4-3. The Sox lost back to back games at home, where they were 16-3 before the series. This also was the first home series loss since late June.
Sox manager Alex Cora held a post-game press conference to talk about the loss, and explain their grievous mistake: They had Nate Eaton pinch run as the game-tying run in extra innings on third, and didn’t send him on a pop fly by Roman Anthony.
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““That’s an impact arm in CF. We prepare before the series and we decide who we’re gonna challenge and not, so we didn’t challenge him…We prepared before the series, and that’s an impact arm, and we decided not to challenge him.”
Cora stuck with the answer, even after follow ups. The Orioles had Colton Cowser in center field, who’s in the 95th percentile for arm strength, which means he has one of the best arms in the game.
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However, on the other side of the coin, Eaton is one of the fastest players in the game. He’s in the 95th percentile for spring speed, meaning once he’s moving, he’s basically gone. So, in that sense, it would have been better to take that risk since Cowser needs a perfect throw to beat out one of the fastest players in the game.
The Sox have today off, and will face their eternal rivals, the New York Yankees, tomorrow in the Bronx at 7:15pm EST. Hopefully they figure out how to stop this three-game skid, while regaining their spot in second place in the division.
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