Red Sox annoyed with Orioles after weather washes away lead

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora vented his frustrations with how the rain delays and postponement during the Baltimore series were handled.

Wednesday night’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles was postponed following a lengthy rain delay and manager Alex Cora isn’t happy about it.

Boston jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before the umpires called for the tarp to cover the field in the top of the second inning. It was finally determined that the game would be called off after the teams sat around waiting for over two hours. Without enough innings logged to count as an official game, everything that happened leading up to the delay gets washed away by the rain. The teams will start from scratch in a makeup game later this season.

The major league-leading 32nd home run J.D. Martinez blasted in the first inning doesn’t count. Homers by Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi? Never happened.

David Price breezed through the first inning but never got the chance to keep the promising outing going. After warming up, tossing an inning and trying to stay loose through the delay, Price won’t be ready to bounce back to start the next day. His turn in the rotation is essentially wasted. He could have started on Thursday against the Minnesota Twins had the game been called off before Price took the mound last night.

Why even start the game when you know there’s no chance of getting through the minimum five innings before the skies open up? The Orioles can’t control the weather but the home team does get to decide whether or not the game should begin with the threat of rain looming.

That’s part of what irked Cora, who vented to reporters after the postponement was announced.

“I feel for the team,” Cora told reporters. “I don’t care about the home runs. We had a 5-0 lead, and we have one of the horses on our mound. It’s not that it’s a guaranteed win, but we know where we are at, and every game matters.”

The Red Sox had the opportunity to increase their lead over the Yankees to six games. Now they’ll have to wait to try to pick up that half game another time, only without the benefit of a five-run cushion. We’d like to think that the Red Sox can easily put away a pushover like the Orioles any day yet a loss the previous night reminds us not to take these wins for granted.

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Last night wasn’t the only time rain delays were mismanaged during this series. The Red Sox sent only two batters to the plate in the first inning before Monday’s game was delayed for 43 minutes. Not only did Rick Porcello have a long wait to take the mound following his pre-game warmups, he was forced to sit through another 19-minute delay later in the game. Two delays in one game?!

The skies eventually cleared enough to finish the game with Porcello throwing six scoreless innings. While he didn’t seem phased by the delays, the Red Sox certainly would have preferred to have his outing completed without the interruptions.

Baltimore takes the blame for allowing these games to start when anyone with the slightest idea of how to read a Doppler radar could tell you a heavy downpour was imminent. Twice in this series the game had to be stopped before many fans had time to find their seats. That’s a disgrace.

The umpires aren’t off the hook either. The home team decides if the game should begin but it’s the umpires who determine when to stop and resume the game. The umpires appeared hesitant to call for the delay on several occasions in the series, allowing pools of water to accumulate on the field and creating a dangerous playing environment. Restarting a game only to incur another delay shortly after is a bad look as well.

Cora is upset and he has every right to be. The O’s don’t care. Their season has already gone down the drain. It does matter for a Red Sox team fighting to retain their division lead. Every game matters.

Wednesday’s game will now be made up as part of a doubleheader on August 11. Expect a ticked off Red Sox team to show no mercy to their division rivals when these teams meet again.