Red Sox manager Alex Cora is clearing the air regarding his spat with Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman.
Boston and Toronto faced off Tuesday night with Stroman on the mound, and some of his antics didn't sit well with Cora and others in the Red Sox dugout.
Cora was not a fan of Stroman delivering a quick pitch to Boston rookie Michael Chavis and called the pitcher out, which led to Stroman trolling Cora on Twitter.
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Now Cora is downplaying the incident and gave his side of the story to WEEI on Wednesday.
"I wasn’t actually complaining about the quick-pitch," Cora said. "… I was actually telling the umpire because Stroman goes to Chavis and he talks to him and then somebody from the dugout is screaming at Stroman and (umpire) Alan Porter right away jumps on our guy. I was actually screaming at the umpire, but if people want to feel like I was screaming at Stroman and that’s a story so be it. I don’t have anything against the kid."
Cora then clarified his comments over Stroman's demonstrative style.
“It’s the Stro-show, you know? He’s on the mound and he has his antics and he gets under people’s skin and all of a sudden he pitches six innings," Cora said. "I was with the Astros and people from the dugout were screaming at him and with the Red Sox people in the dugout are screaming at him. It’s part of it. I said he competes a certain way. Some people like it and some people don’t. But, as you guys know in the media there’s always somebody writing the headline and those are the ones that get you in trouble. Thank you again to the guys that wrote the headlines and now there’s something going on here in Toronto.”
The initial criticism Tuesday night prompted Stroman to take to Twitter on Wednesday and allege Cora still is salty Stroman chose to play with Team USA instead of Puerto Rico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Cora was the general manager of the Puerto Rico team that lost to Stroman and the U.S. in the final, with the pitcher being named MVP.
Cora probably still mad I chose to play for @USABaseball over Puerto Rico. Now it makes sense. Lol 😂😂😂 https://t.co/y5xvA6dGhm
— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) May 22, 2019
When asked Wednesday about Stroman's tweet, Cora downplayed that, as well.
"He even tweeted that I am still mad he didn’t pitch for Puerto Rico in the WBC," Cora said. "I had the best time of my life with that team and he wasn’t part of it. Highlight of my career. He pitched six innings and he did an outstanding job for Team USA in the finals and I had a blast with the team that I had.”