'Here we go again' | Red Sox manager Alex Cora reacts to another Yankees rally

by Felix Pantaleón

Red Sox manager Alex Cora breathed a sigh of relief with a win on Thursday after the Yankees pieced together another improbable rally.

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NEW YORK — When the Yankees pieced together a game-tying, four-run rally in the seventh inning on Thursday, the Boston Red Sox saw another late lead disappear.

The fans at Yankee Stadium loved it. The manager in the visitors’ dugout? Not so much.

“For them, it’s fun to watch,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “For me, it’s like, ‘Oh God, here we go again.'”

Cora breathed a sigh of relief when the Red Sox overcame that seventh-inning rally with J.D. Martinez’s solo home run on the second pitch of the top of the eighth inning.

That blast gave the Red Sox a 5-4 victory and allowed them to salvage the final game of the three-game series in the Bronx and avoid a sweep.

Between the length of the game and a 55-minute rain delay in the fifth inning, Cora wasn’t sure when it would end.

“It felt like it took forever tonight,” he said. “The three games felt like the (ALCS) last year. It was just loud. They got something good going on there, but we also have something good here. It’s going to be fun the rest of the year.”

Cora also echoed the sentiments of Yankees players and coaches about the playoff-like atmosphere at Yankee Stadium for the three-game series in the middle of May.

The first two wins of the series gave the Yankees eight straight victories overall, and the Red Sox manager knew any lapse could let the home team steal Thursday’s series finale.

After all, Cora and the rest of baseball saw the Yankees do it plenty over the past couple weeks.

“It’s like here we go again. Especially with that team, what they’ve been doing,” Cora said. “They did it to the Indians. I think two out of three, they came back late in the game. They did it to Houston. They did it to Anaheim. They did it to us twice. You’ve got to play 27 outs against them. From first pitch all the way to the end.”