Alex Cora ejection was too little, too late for sparking Red Sox in AL Wild Card race

The Boston Red Sox's offense had stalled to a complete halt before their Sunday doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins.

Manager Alex Cora hasn't had an explanation for his team's lack of thump. He took extreme measures to wake his players up, and it worked.

Cora was tossed from Boston's first game on Sept. 22 after the second at-bat of the day. Second baseman Vaughn Grissom was called for interference when he dropped his knee on the bag as he attempted to tag Byron Buxton, effectively blocking the base. Boston's skipper didn't take kindly to the call.

Cora stormed onto the field and raised his issues with the umpiring crew. After a few seconds of heated deliberation, Cora was ejected. Then, he got his money's worth. He stomped to second base and mimicked Grissom's tag attempt before he had to be held back from getting in the umpiring crew's faces.

As Cora walked off the field, Red Sox fans cheered him on. His argument clearly sparked something in his team. The Sox collected eight runs on 11 hits and fanned just eight times — a significant improvement on their 20 strikeouts in game one.

Alex Cora's ejection sparked the Red Sox's offense, but it may be too late to matter

Cora's argument worked particularly well on Triston Casas, who broke out of a gnarly slump in the biggest way. The first baseman posted two hits and six strikeouts in five games from Sept. 15-20. He homered in three straight at-bats after Cora was tossed. The first two were three-run bombs.

The Sox posted nine runs on 10 hits in the getaway game on Sunday evening, including Romy González's sixth homer of the year. But even if Boston's success carries through the rest of the season, it doesn't control its own destiny in the Wild Card chase.

The Red Sox are four games out of the third Wild Card spot with two teams ahead in the standings. Even if they win out, they would have to rely on other teams in contention to lose to secure a postseason berth.

But the Twins' offense has looked dismal lately — as the Red Sox know. Anything is possible as the regular season comes to a close, but had Boston taken advantage of Cora's last outburst, when he accused Gerrit Cole of throwing at Rafael Devers on purpose, the Sox may be in a better position with six games remaining.

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