Yoshida gets an 'A' according to Cora's first-half grades

BOSTON -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora took a brief break from his real job during his pre-game press conference on Sunday morning and turned into a professor handing out a midterm grade for left fielder Masataka Yoshida.

“I know grades are coming,” said Cora. “He’s an A. Whoever gives him less, I don’t know what they’re watching.”

Yoshida made his manager look smart later in the day when he belted a solo homer that just cleared the Green Monster to snap a tie in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the A’s on Sunday afternoon, the final game before the All-Star break.

Cora’s team heads into that break with momentum, having won five in a row and eight of nine while sporting an American League-best 15-8 mark since June 14.

While the Red Sox have been on the fringes of contention at times, they head to the break just two games back in the American League Wild Card standings.

The 48-43 Sox will start back up again at Wrigley Field on Friday for the start of a three-game series and then play the A’s again in the second leg of the six-game road trip.

“This was a great weekend,” said Cora. “So enjoy the break. “We’re playing some good baseball but we still need to reset. I'm not going to be the guy that says I wish we played tomorrow, because that's not true.”

However, Yoshida might feel differently. He heads to the break on fire, having produced seven consecutive multi-hit games, the longest streak in MLB this year. During those seven games, he hit .517 (15-for-29). He is tied with Toronto’s Bo Bichette with a league-leading 34 multi-hit games on the season.

“Yeah, I'm happy to keep playing without any injury, so that is the biggest thing for me,” said Yoshida. “I'm not sure about the results, but the only thing I can do is prepare well. So that's one of my goals for the second half of the season, too.”

When the Red Sox signed Yoshida to a five-year, $90-million contract in December and also supplied the Orix Buffaloes with a $15.4 million posting fee, there were reports throughout the industry that had unnamed executives criticizing the move as a big overpay.

At this point, Boston is thrilled it struck aggressively on the 29-year-old who in the first 78 games of his career has a line of .316/.382/.492 with 19 doubles, 10 homers and 44 RBIs.

“They did a good job scouting him throughout the years and they understood he was going to be OK [in the Major Leagues],” said Cora. “I know a lot of people still have question marks but what he’s doing is what good hitters do. They put the ball in play, they hit hard, he takes his walks, he doesn’t strike out. He hits the ball all over the place against lefties and righties and I’m glad we took a chance. “

Yoshida’s clutch homer on Sunday was impressive in that it was on a 95.1-mph fastball by Ken Waldichuk that was 3.86 feet off the ground, the highest pitch hit for a homer by the Red Sox this year. It marked the second time Yoshida has cleared the Monster in his career.

“I feel like that’s a pitch I can hit,” said Yoshida. “So that’s why I swung and then the result was really good.”

Earlier this week, Yoshida received an additional boost when his daughter came to Boston on her third birthday. The left fielder plans on hanging around Boston with his family during the All-Star break, something Yoshida will savor after adapting to an MLB travel schedule that is more rigorous than what he was used to in Japan.

“Yeah, that was a great feeling,” Yoshida said of when his daughter got to town. “And then to spend it with my family to reduce my tiredness was really an awesome time.”

Coming through for his team in such a big moment put a big smile on Yoshida’s face as he got ready for four days off.

“I was really happy because that was an important situation,” Yoshida said. “So I was really happy.”

The Fenway crowd of 35,460 made a lot of noise as Yoshida rounded the bases.

“Yeah, I think the best thing is we won the game and we could be excited together,” Yoshida said.