TORONTO – Charlie Montoyo praised Alex Cora after the Boston Red Sox manager returned a lost PitchCom speaker during the Toronto Blue Jays’ 1-0 win on Thursday, instead of holding the device to listen to the incoming courts. The incident happened between the eighth and ninth inning, after catcher Alejandro Kirk threw his receiver near the visitors’ dugout. There Cora picked it up and took it to the Blue Jays dugout. “It was elegant enough to bring it to me,” Montoyo said. “They could easily hold it and listen to every pitch that (Jordan) Romano was going to throw. “It was awesome that he did that.” Cora’s actions are in stark contrast to those of Tampa Bay Rays winger Kevin Kiermaier, who during a match in September was tagged at home by Kirk, whose pitch card was removed from his bracelet. As he lifted himself off the ground, Kiermaier found the card, picked it up secretly and took it to the dugout, where he handed it to a coach. Rays manager Kevin Cash and GM Erik Neander eventually apologized, but that did not dampen the bad feelings as Ryan Borucki hit Kiermaier with a pitch later in the series. Cora has his own story, of course, as in April 2020, Major League Baseball suspended him for a year for his role in the Houston Astros sign theft plan.
