Wednesday afternoon’s bottom of the seventh inning quickly went from promising to frustrating for the Red Sox.
Boston and Seattle were deadlocked at 2-2 when Rafael Devers stepped up with runners on first and second with one out. The All-Star third baseman skied a shallow pop-up that signaled the infield fly rule, but the frame ended when Tyler O’Neill was ruled out for interfering with Justin Turner. Mind you, the newly acquired Mariners first baseman wasn’t even the one who caught the baseball.
Alex Cora quickly emerged from the Red Sox dugout and received an explanation from the first-base umpire, but the Boston manager didn’t seem satisfied with what he was told. Cora still was scratching his head after the game, even after his club won the series in walk-off fashion.
“It’s infield fly. The batter is out,” Cora told reporters, per MassLive. “Then he was out because he impeded the fielder to catch the ball.
“First of all, JT (Turner) didn’t catch the ball. The ball was at second base. We’ll see. I’ll probably explain it on Friday because I want the league to take a look at the play and how it developed and go from there.”
O’Neill was similarly mystified by the interference call, as he felt he did no wrong as he tried to retreat back to first base. Fortunately for the Red Sox, a series triumph over a fellow playoff hopeful surely will help ease the blow of a tough sequence.
Boston will be off Thursday before opening a three-game weekend series in Texas on Friday.
