HOUSTON – Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander had some choice words for Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora on the field during Tuesday’s game at Minute Maid Park.
According to MLB.com, prior to the start of the second inning, Verlander signaled that his PitchCom earpiece, a transmitting device that lets a player request pitches without using visible signals, was not working.
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Meanwhile, Cora came to the field and argued with the umpire after speaking to Verlander, claiming that Verlander used his PitchCom malfunction as a “ploy because the pitch timer was winding down.”
You can watch the exchange here.
“Alex comes out there and starts arguing,” Verlander told MLB.com during a postgame news conference. “I’m assuming he thought I was using it as a tactic. I wasn’t using it as a tactic. He gestured to me and said something like, ‘You go pitch,’ along those lines.”
After several back-and-forths, the 40-year-old pitcher, who recently returned to the Astros via trade with the New York Mets, let his mouth slip a few not-so-friendly words that could be heard during the game’s TV broadcast.
“You shook him off five times,” said Cora, who was overheard during the broadcast.
Verlander responded: “I didn’t shake the at-bat. F--- off, Alex.”
For Cora, however, he shrugged it off, but he was later ejected in the seventh inning.
“He did a good job today,” he told MLB.com during a postgame news conference.
The Astros rallied to beat the Red Sox 7-3.