Brandon Hyde responds after Boston manager points out Orioles' lack of swing and misses
BALTIMORE- Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora says he was not accusing Baltimore of anything nefarious when he pointed out how few swings and misses the Orioles had against Chris Sale on Monday night.
The Orioles are riding a winning streak and the Boston Red Sox developed a mean streak after losing to the O's Monday night.
It led to some back-and-forth words between the two managers on Tuesday.
Boston manager Alex Cora was upset at the umpires during his team's 5-4 loss at Oriole Park, a game in which no Oriole batter struck out. That's the first time that has happened for the Orioles in 13 years.
The Orioles made contact on 40 of their 42 swings against Sale.
Cora said his comments were about possible pitch tipping by Sale and not about sign stealing or anything shady on Baltimore's part.
"Sliders down and in and they hit it. Fastballs up and away, they hit it. Changeups — at one point there, there was no swing and misses. Tough pitches," Cora said after the game. "You've got to give credit to them, I guess."
"We've got to take a look at it and see if we find something," Cora added, "I'm not saying — got to give credit to them, but command was off today."
Oriole manager Brandon Hyde heard what Cora said.
Both managers addressed it pregame on Tuesday.
"I thought it was disrespectful to our hitters to be honest with you," Hyde said. "I thought we had a great game plan, I thought we had Major League hitters taking really good at bats."
"It wasn't about pointing the finger at them," Cora said. "If he took it that way, I'll talk to him about it right now. That's not the case. I'm the last guy to accuse somebody. I was a guy suspended for what happened in 2017. So, I'm the last guy that can accuse somebody of doing something wrong if that's what he thought I was saying."
Cora, who managed Boston to a World Series title in 2018, was suspended for the 2020 season for his role in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal from 2017. He was the bench coach for that Houston team.
It's a little spice added to a division rivalry.
The Orioles are the hot team, winning seven straight ahead of Tuesday's game.