Seemingly every decision Alex Cora's made this postseason has worked like a charm
In the bottom of the seventh inning of World Series Game 1, Alex Cora had a decision to make. Boston had men on first and second with two outs, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had just replaced righty Pedro Baez with lefty Alex Wood. Cora could either stick with the left-handed Rafael Devers or pinch-hit with the only right-handed non-catcher left on his bench: Eduardo Nunez.
Devers had already delivered an RBI single off Clayton Kershaw earlier in the night. Nunez slugged just .388 in the regular season. But Cora had a feeling, so he made the change -- and, if you've followed anything Boston's skipper has done this postseason, you can probably guess how it played out:
Nunez launched a three-run dinger over the Monster -- his first homer since Sept. 1 and just his 11th all year -- to seal an 8-4 Red Sox win. It was an awesome moment, and also yet more proof that Cora may actually have been blessed by a higher power during this postseason. If that sounds like hyperbole, well, just take a look at all his brilliant moves so far.
ALDS Game 1: Rick Porcello in relief
Chris Sale had kept the Yankees in check for most of the night, but once New York got to Boston's middle relief, the wheels started to come off. Three hits, two walks and two runs in the sixth followed by two more hits and another run in the seventh cut the Red Sox lead to just two, and it seemed like everybody who came out of the Boston bullpen had trouble finding the strike zone.
Cora had three outs to get before handing the ball over to Craig Kimbrel, but how would he get them? Oh, no big deal, just call on usual starter Rick Porcello:
Porcello came on to record two huge outs, and Kimbrel took it the rest of the way for a 5-4 win.
ALDS Game 3: The Brock Holt Show
The series headed to New York tied, 1-1, and the Yankees had Luis Severino lined up for Game 3. To counter the hard-throwing righty on tap, Cora sat second baseman Ian Kinsler in order to give left-handed troubadour Brock Holt his first start of the postseason.
Sure, Holt had a lifetime OPS+ of 91, but that didn't stop him from recording the first cycle in postseason history:
ALDS Game 4: The lineup switch
After such a jaw-dropping performance, you'd assume that Holt had earned another start the next night. Alas, you'd be wrong: With New York starting lefty CC Sabathia, Cora flipped the switch, inserting righties Kinsler and Nunez into the lineup. Their line in Game 4? 3-for-8, two RBIs and a run scored:
ALDS Game 4: Chris Sale in the eighth
Again his team nursed a lead in the eighth inning, looking to bridge the gap to Kimbrel. And again Cora went with a starter to get the job done -- except this time, it was Chris Sale, who needed just 13 pitches to get through a perfect frame:
ALCS Game 3: Steve Pearce goes yard
With the game tied at 2 in the top of the sixth, Steve Pearce's turn in the order came up against Houston righty Joe Smith. Rather than swap in lefty Mitch Moreland, Cora decided to ride it out with his starter -- another tough platoon decision that resulted in another dinger:
Cora would use Moreland eventually, though -- against Roberto Osuna in the eighth, where he produced a go-ahead hit-by-pitch. Because of course he did.
ALCS Game 5: Sticking with David Price
Price's line over his first two postseason starts: 6 1/3 innings, eight hits, six walks, seven earned runs. But with the pennant on the line, Cora gave him the ball anyway -- on three days' rest, no less -- and he produced the start of his career:
Tune in to World Series Game 2 on Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET on FOX) to see Cora somehow coax two innings of relief work out of Bullpen Cop.
