Furious Alex Cora accuses Gerrit Cole of intentionally hitting Rafael Devers: ‘Don’t want to face him’
NY Post
An angry Alex Cora accused Yankees right-hander Gerritt Cole of intentionally hitting Red Sox star Rafael Devers in the first inning because he didn’t want to face the slugger who has owned him throughout his career.
Cora’s reasoning was simple.
When the Yankees ace intentionally walked Devers in the fourth inning with nobody on base in a one-run game, it was clear Cole intended to avoid him.
“They can say whatever they want. The intentional walk [made it] loud and clear: ‘I don’t want to face him,’ ” Cora fumed after Boston’s 7-1 rout of the Yankees in The Bronx on Saturday. “Second pitch of the game against Rafy, you see it. It was intentional. I’m not going to back up.”
Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello was even more blunt, saying Cole’s move “showed a lot of weakness.”
Cole denied throwing at Devers on purpose.
With the Yankees on an impressive run of mostly correct decisions, there’s some reason to leave them alone and just let the best team in the American League continue to roll. But they did raise serious doubt and leave room for suggestions (and even ridicule) following maybe the most inexplicable decision of this season, or any season.
The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll, until now. They were 2-0 and flying high in 2022 and 1-1 after a rousing comeback in Arizona in 2023. So, this represents a low point as far as early-season difficulties for Daboll and the Giants. They had no business beating the Vikings in the opener and no business losing to the Commanders in Week 2. But here they are.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Harrison Butker kept making a lonely walk to midfield after each quarter Sunday to check on the direction of the wind, which tends to swirl inside Arrowhead Stadium. He did it one last time during the 2-minute warning, when his Chiefs were trailing the Bengals by two and trying to give him a winning field-goal attempt.