PHOENIX -- As Alex Cora joined a small club in Red Sox history by earning his 600th career managerial win, he did it in the most fitting way possible.
All hands were on deck, and many of them were needed to make Sunday’s 7-4 victory over the D-backs possible.
Cora always talks about maximizing the roster, rather than relying on his core players to do all the heavy lifting, and that was certainly evident on the day he joined Joe Cronin (1,071 wins) and Terry Francona (744) as the only managers in Red Sox history to reach that number.
Sunday was shaping up as a down day to cap a down weekend as the Red Sox entered the seventh inning trailing Arizona, 3-1.
Nine outs away from getting swept and having their losing streak stretched to four games since Roman Anthony was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique injury, Cora pushed some key buttons.
Most notably, he called on the seldom-used Nick Sogard to pinch-hit for Connor Wong with two outs in the top of the ninth in a tie game.
Used as a pinch-hitter for just the third time in his career, Sogard drilled a double to left-center to snap a 4-4 tie. Why Sogard in that spot?
“He's going to put the ball in play. He’s a good hitter,” Cora said. “So we felt like that was the right matchup there. Took two pitches, didn't panic and shot the ball the other way.”
With the Red Sox hunting their first postseason appearance since 2021, Cora recently set the expectations for what it will take.
“We're going to grind. We've been hurt. We've been banged up throughout the season,” said Cora. “But we have been able to put ourselves in this situation [to be in the race]. And we talked to the guys a few weeks ago and said, ‘Just be ready.’ We're going to continue to use everybody, maximize the roster and try to win as many games as possible to make it to October.”
Another strength for Cora is balancing the short and the long term. While ace setup man Garrett Whitlock has mainly been a one-inning reliever for the last two months, Cora decided Sunday was a day he needed more from him.
Whitlock earned the win, getting five big outs. It was a clean handoff to elite closer Aroldis Chapman, who became the third pitcher in Red Sox history to get four strikeouts in an inning, joining Tim Wakefield (Aug. 10, 1999) and Craig Kimbrel (May 25, 2017).
“Whit was huge and Chappy, too. We’ve just got to be better with the rest of the guys, and that's the reality of it,” said Cora. “There are guys [in the bullpen] that are grinding through it right now, but we have to be better, and they will be better. We're going to keep working with them, trying to avoid ... going two innings or four outs [with Whitlock and Chapman]. But in that situation, we needed it.”
Whitlock knows the drill. He broke into the Major Leagues as a Rule 5 Draft pick in ‘21, and Cora is the only manager he’s had. For the righty, it meant something to be part of a milestone win for Cora.
“It’s special,” Whitlock said. “I think I speak for everyone here when I say he's a people's manager. We all love him, and we'll go to war for him. So I couldn't be happier for him.”
While most managers are known for their people skills or their prowess as in-game tacticians, Cora is both. And he also balances using the analytical info he gets from the front office while not being overly reliant on it.
“There's a reason he hit 600 wins,” Whitlock said. “He always takes the time to say hi to my wife, speak to my kid, everything like that. He does that with everyone. And then when it's gametime, you can tell that it's AC. He’s not Alex, he’s AC. It’s awesome to see.”
With 18 games remaining, the 79-65 Sox are 3 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays for the American League East and 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees for the first Wild Card spot. While the race will be Cora’s daily focus from here on out, he took a minute to reflect on 600.
“It takes a lot of people to win games at this level,” said Cora. “To win 600 games as a group since that first swing Mookie [Betts] took in Tropicana Field [on Opening Day of 2018] all the way until the last pitch by Chappy today, it takes a lot of effort, not only for the people in the clubhouse, but the trainers and the front office, and, more importantly, my family.”