Cora brothers reunited after a year apart

At a time in Spring Training when it’s common for managers to hit a wall, Alex Cora had a little extra bounce in his step on Sunday.

With the Red Sox hosting the Pirates, it meant that Cora got to see his older brother, Joey -- Pittsburgh’s third-base coach -- for the first time in over 14 months.

A lot happened since their last in-person encounter in Puerto Rico on Jan. 7, 2020. Cora lost his job with the Red Sox for 10 months and was suspended by MLB for the 2020 season due to his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The Red Sox ultimately decided to re-hire Cora on Nov. 6.

“It actually hit me this morning,” said Alex Cora before Joey’s Pirates beat the Red Sox, 9-4, at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla. “'Wow, I haven’t seen Joey in a while.’ We have a group text, a family group text. Always my mom at 6 in the morning, ‘God bless you guys’. I said, ‘Family reunion.’ She’s like, ‘We’re always here.’ I said, ‘Joey’s coming here.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, God, he is.’ It’s cool to see him. We’re going to catch up. Obviously with our masks on, six feet apart because he’s in the other bubble, but it will be good to see him.”

Though Cora didn’t see Joey during his forced sabbatical, his older brother was there for him as much as ever.

“He stuck with me last year, not surprisingly,” said Cora. “Sometimes I thought about how people were going to treat him because of what I did and I don’t know, he never opened up about it. Obviously with no fans it was different.

“But that was one of the things that bothered me throughout the whole thing, that people will point at him because of what I did and that’s not fair. That wasn’t going to be fair and hopefully he doesn't have to hear stuff that’s not about him. We’re different guys. And what I did, I did, he didn’t.”

The way Joey looked at it, he was supporting Alex like any good big brother should.

“That’s part of being a big brother. It wasn’t tough love he needed. It was just love,” Joey said after Sunday’s game.

The brothers have always had a special relationship. When their father Jose Manuel died when Alex was only 13, Joey became even more than a big brother. He watched over Alex closely and made sure he was following in the right path.

“He’s everything for me,” said Alex Cora. “He’s my brother, he’s my best friend, he’s my dad. Probably he wasn’t proud [of the sign-stealing scandal]. We never go into that, how proud or not proud he is. But one thing for sure he was there the whole time throughout the process checking on me, he was very important.

“Joey has been amazing for all of us. My mom, she’s the greatest. The way she handled the whole process last year was eye-opening, I learned a lot from her. But he really helped me out through this. When the whole process started [of going back to the Red Sox], after the playoffs were over, we talked a lot about what might happen and here I am. And I’m here because of people like him.”

There was no doubt an emptiness for Joey last Spring Training when the Pirates and Red Sox faced each other and Alex wasn’t around.

“It was hard on the whole family. Sure, it was hard,” Joey said. “We know the character of Alex. The whole family hoped that he’d get another chance and could redeem himself, if you want to call it that. I don’t see it as being redeemed. He was a good kid who made a mistake.”

Closing time?

Matt Barnes fired a strong ninth inning on Sunday, striking out two of the three batters he faced in a 1-2-3 frame. Adam Ottavino, who had a clean ninth earlier in the week, pitched in the sixth inning and gave up a hit and an unearned run.

One of those pitchers will be Cora’s closer when the season starts. But Cora still isn’t ready to say which one.

“Like I said, there’s not a rush on doing this,” said Cora. “They know it. Right now they’re working on their craft, and Otto pitched the ninth one day, Barnesy pitched today. It’s different preparation for both of them but we’re comfortable with the way they’re throwing the ball, which is good, and whenever we make the decision we will.”

J.D. shows progress

After such a tough season in 2020, it’s not surprising that Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez has spent much of this spring worrying more about fine-tuning his mechanics that getting positive results in games.

Martinez (.243 average, .590 OPS this spring) looked more comfortable at the plate Sunday than he had previously, belting a double high off the replica Green Monster in his first at-bat and drawing two walks.

“The walks, man, walks are good,” said Cora. "He walked yesterday in the last at bat, he put a good swing in the first one [Sunday]. That's a key of every hitter, right? You control the strike zone.

“One thing I keep telling him, we can work on mechanics and all that but when we go out there [in the games], you have to compete. And he competes, but at the same time he wants to clean his swing and work on his thing and at that speed of the game you can't do that.

“It doesn't matter if it's February March, or October, when you get in that batter's box in a big stadium, it's about competition. He’s working on a few things. We have plenty of at-bats over the course of the week, there's a few 'B' games against the Twins, [so] we'll get him going ... I mean, he never panics. But like I say to him, ‘You’ve just got to be ready for April 1.’ That's the most important thing”

Up next

Lefty ace Eduardo Rodriguez, who was named the starter for Opening Day a few days ago by Cora, will make his penultimate start of Spring Training on Monday, when the Red Sox travel to Port Charlotte, Fla., to face the Rays. Hirokazu Sawamura and Darwinzon Hernandez will see action out of the bullpen. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET.