TORONTO – Charlie Montoyo praised Alex Cora after the Boston Red Sox manager returned a lost PitchCom speaker during a 1-0 Toronto Blue Jays win Thursday, rather than keeping the device to hear incoming pitches.
The incident occurred between the eighth and ninth innings, after catcher Alejandro Kirk dropped his receiver near the visitor’s dugout. That’s where Cora picked it up and walked it over to the Blue Jays dugout.
“That was pretty classy to bring it to me,” said Montoyo. “They could have kept it easily and heard every pitch that (closer Jordan) Romano was going to throw. That was pretty awesome that he did that.”
Cora’s actions are in stark contrast to those of Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier, who during a September game was tagged out at home by Kirk, whose pitch card was dislodged from his wristband.
As he was picking himself up off the ground, Kiermaier found the card, clandestinely picked it up and took it over to the dugout, where he handed it over to a coach.
Rays manager Kevin Cash and GM Erik Neander eventually apologized, but that didn’t ease the bad feelings, as Ryan Borucki hit Kiermaier with a pitch later in the series.
Cora has his own history, of course, as in April 2020, Major League Baseball suspended him one year for his role in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scheme.
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