Cora goes off, gets ejected as Betts nearly hit by pitch
BOSTON — Alex Cora was mad. Mad at the umpires for issuing warnings to both benches in the bottom of the first and mad at Luis Severino and the Yankees for what he felt was head-hunting.
“I didn’t appreciate them throwing at my leadoff guy,” the Boston manager said after Severino threw up and in with Betts at the plate to lead off the game for the Red Sox. “I didn’t like the fact they gave a warning. If they felt that way, that the pitch had intent, just throw him out of the game. That’s it.”
Instead, the Red Sox tagged Severino for four runs in 5 2/3 innings Friday in a 4-1 win, their second straight over the Yankees at Fenway Park.
After Boston right-hander Rick Porcello hit Brett Gardner with a 0-2 pitch to lead off the top of the first, Severino immediately buzzed Betts.
Severino said he didn’t do it on purpose: “The first pitch of the game, I’m not hitting anybody. If I’m going to hit somebody, I am not going to miss.”
Cora, who was ejected and watched the rest of the game from the clubhouse, didn’t buy it.
“They know how I feel about it,” Cora said. “If they felt [a] 0-2, front-door slider [to Gardner] had intent, well, the first pitch of the game, right at the head of the best player in baseball, there’s intent.”
The pitch resulted in warnings being issued to both benches by first-base umpire Phil Cuzzi. That decision set off Cora, who charged at home-plate umpire Adam Hamari.
Cora said he wasn’t “polite” about his displeasure and could be seen yelling — seemingly across the field at the Yankees.
Betts said he thought Severino might have “missed his spot up and in.”
Once play resumed, the Red Sox continued their dominance over the Yankees over the past two days.
After Betts grounded out, Andrew Benintendi hit a groundrule double and Steve Pearce — who homered three times in Thursday’s blowout win for the Red Sox — took Severino deep to give Boston a 2-0 lead in the first.
The two teams brawled in April, when Boston right-hander Joe Kelly retaliated for a Tyler Austin high slide into second base by drilling him. Both players were suspended.
Austin was traded to the Twins in the deal that brought Lance Lynn to the Yankees before Tuesday’s non-waiver trade deadline.
There were no fights this time around, as Aaron Boone and Gardner said they didn’t believe Porcello threw at him intentionally.
Still, it made for a few tense moments in the first.
“It definitely got emotional,’’ Porcello said. “I think more than anything, it fired us up. … It’s more important for us to win ball games than to play in a beanball war.”
Asked if it was over between the teams, Cora instead seemingly took a shot at Severino: “I don’t know. We scored four runs in less than six innings [against Severino]. Is that a quality start?”