Game-changing plays
Cora comes up big in field, at plate
Just a gamble, Alex Cora termed his critical eighth-inning play.
His manager saw it differently.
"If you go back and look," Terry Francona said of Cora's 6-5 putout in the top of the eighth yesterday, "you don't make that play unless you're already making it before the ball's even in your glove."
Naturally, there was a third divergent perspective coming from Baltimore manager Dave Trembley, who aimed his critiques at third base umpire Jim Joyce.
"I thought he was out of position again, just like he was out of position [Tuesday] night on the play at the plate" said a shellshocked Trembley after his club's 5-4 loss. "I don't think there's any doubt about that. And I think he was out of position again on that play, but I'm not going to win that argument."
The play in question came with no outs, with the Orioles looking to pad a 4-2 lead. First baseman Oscar Salazar hit a grounder off Justin Masterson into the hole to the left of Cora. Third baseman Aubrey Huff - who led off the inning with a single, then stole second - took off for third.
But Huff was beaten to the bag by Cora's throw. Instead of throwing to first, Cora determined that Huff didn't have a significant lead. So Cora leaned to his left, scooped the ground ball, spun, and threw a dart to Jed Lowrie, who thumped the tag on the Baltimore runner.
So instead of a man at third with one out for designated hitter Luke Scott, the Orioles had Salazar on first. And Salazar was quickly rubbed out when Scott bounced a ball to first and Mark Kotsay turned a 3-5 double play, keeping Baltimore's lead at two runs. Half an inning later, the Sox scored two runs to make it 4-4.
"If they score one run, it was going to be tough for us to come back," Cora said. "I felt like Aubrey didn't have a good lead, so I took a chance. Jed made a good play. That ball was almost coming at his helmet. I think it changed the momentum of the game."
Replays showed, however, that Huff might have gotten his leg on the bag before Lowrie slapped down the tag. After Joyce made the call, Huff threw up his arms in protest, and Trembley engaged the umpire in an up-close discussion before returning to the dugout.
"I've got a lot of respect for what those guys do, but it seemed like every darn call, everything that could possibly go against us, did," Trembley said. "That's not sour grapes. That's the facts of life."
Then in the ninth, Cora came through again. The shortstop, leading off against Jim Miller, cracked the righthander's 1-and-2 pitch into right. Cora then scooted to second when Coco Crisp's bunt skittered down the first base line, thought about going foul, then decided to stay fair.
"I thought it was going foul," Crisp said. "I think everybody else did, too. Just a very lucky day for me."
Crisp was bunting for a hit, but there was no mistaking Jacoby Ellsbury's intention: lay one down to advance the runners. Miller tracked down Ellsbury's bunt and tried to gun down Cora at third, but the pitcher catapulted his throw into left field. Once Cora saw where Miller's throw had gone, he jogged home.
"Just trying to get a big lead and run as fast as I can," Cora said. "I'm not the fastest guy but I try to get a good jump. All of a sudden, I looked to my right and the ball was in the corner. We put pressure on them. Most of the time we don't bunt that often. But today we did a great job, put pressure on them, and ended up with the W."
It was Cora's third hit of the afternoon, the second time he's recorded a three-hit game this season. In the third, Cora grounded out against spot starter Lance Cormier, who limited the Sox to two hits over three innings by commanding a lively fastball. But in the sixth, Cora singled to center off reliever Dennis Sarfate. An inning later, with runners on first and second and Huff playing a deep third base, Cora laid a bunt down the line for a single to load the bases (Crisp drove in a run a batter later with a walk).
Cora has now hit safely in his last six games, going 10 for 24 (.417).
"He impacted the game," said Francona, "in a huge way today."
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. 