“He was good. Good fastball, good slider, good command,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Got in a little trouble there; we let him get out of it and then into the seventh it was kind of like, get the leadoff guy and he did and then get the next guy he did and he finished the end and but overall, you know, everything he’s been working on is paying off and he’s in a great spot.”
Cora referenced back to when Sale made some tweaks in his delivery and how it’s allowed him to feel more comfortable.
“We had Kutter (Crawford) ready just in case,” Cora said. ” … I think since he changed his delivery, I started feeling more comfortable with him.”
Here are more notes from Saturday’s Red Sox-Padres game:
— The Red Sox are now 18-4 on the season when scoring first and 24-8 when scoring four or more runs and improved to 22-10 when they connect for at least one home run.
— The Red Sox twice challenged out calls and both plays were successfully overturned when the runner proved to be safe. Ramiel Tapia was the first to be called out in the second inning when he stole third base in the double steal with Kiké Hernández advancing to second. They would both score on the Valdez home run.
Hernández was involved again in the fourth when he stretched a double and was initially called out. After the review, it was determined that Hernández was able to lift his right hand to avoid the tag while reaching for the plate.
“I went to second because it was going to hurt to stop at first,” Hernández said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Once I saw I was going to be out by a lot, I was trying to figure out how to slide and I went in slo-mo and it worked out.”
