Red Sox-Yankees: Alex Cora ejected, goes nuts after Luis Severino throws at Mookie Betts

by Felix Pantaleón

Red Sox manager Alex Cora was thrown out of the first inning of Friday’s game vs. the Yankees after Luis Severino threw at Mookie Betts.

BOSTON — Alex Cora picked a good time for his first ejection.

The Red Sox‘s manager was booted after going nuts — and then he went even more nuts — in the first inning of a game with the Yankees at Fenway Park on Friday.

Cora was upset after Luis Severino buzzed beloved Boston leadoff man Mookie Betts with a fastball high and tight for the first pitch of the bottom of the inning.

Severino’s retaliation came after Red Sox starter Rick Porcello hit Yankees leadoff man Brett Gardner in the elbow with a pitch in an 0-2 count.

Cora appeared to scream an obscenity at plate umpire Adam Hamari. Then Hamari told Cora not to come out of the dugout. Hamari also warned both benches about further potential targeting.

Cora sprinted out of the dugout and got in Hamari’s face. Cora also appeared to shove an umpire.

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Some Yankees stats going into the game:

BRONX BOMBERS: Since the start of July, Yankees batters are hitting .280/.352/.475 with 48 doubles, 3 triples and 43HR.

- Have hit a Major League-leading 174HR…are on pace to hit 263HR (the MLB record is 264HR by Seattle in 1997).
- Their 4HR on Thursday were their most since hitting a season-high 6HR on 7/1 vs. Boston…have homered in seven straight games (12HR total) after hitting just 1HR in their previous 5G.
- Lead the Majors in SLG (.460) and rank second in runs per game (5.21), OPS (.793) and XBH (385).
- Gregorius’ 2HR game on Thursday was the Yankees’ 19^th multi-HR game this season…are the fourth team ever to have at least 19 individual multi-HR games within the first 107 games of a season (1996 Mariners-21, 1966 Braves-19, 1961 Yankees-19).
- With Aaron Judge (26HR), Giancarlo Stanton (25HR) and Didi Gregorius (20HR), the Yankees are one of three teams this season that have three players with at least 20HR, joining Cleveland (Encarnacion/Lindor/Ramirez) and Colorado (Arenado/Blackmon/Story).
DOUBLE DUTCH: SS Didi Gregorius hit a three-run HR in the first and a solo HR in the fifth on Thurs. at Boston…was his fifth career multi-HR game…were his 19th and 20^th home runs of the season.
- Marked his fourth multi-HR game of the season, all as a shortstop…no other Yankees shortstop has had more than two such games in one season…ranks third among shortstops this season in multi-HR games (Manny Machado-5, Francisco Lindor-5).
- Reached 20HR for the third consecutive season (also 25HR in 2017, 20HR in 2016)…was already the only Yankees shortstop ever to hit 20HR in consecutive seasons (min. 50% of G at SS)…tied Derek Jeter (1999, 2001, ’04) for the most 20HR seasons by a Yankees shortstop…joins Colorado’s Trevor Story as the only shortstops to hit at least 20HR in each of the last three seasons.
- Has 12RBI in 12 games since the All-Star break.