The Padres have the best bullpen in baseball, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Friday.
By late Sunday afternoon, when David Morgan finished off the Padres’ series-clinching victory in the East Village, Cora’s words resonated.
Padres relievers overwhelmed several Boston hitters. They struck out 14 Sox on Saturday and six more on Sunday, leading the home team to a series win
Following the 6-2 defeat Sunday, Cora mentioned it once again. The Padres, he said, have MLB’s best bullpen.
He smiled and checked his watch. Joking, he implied he might not have time to catch the team bus.
“Good fastballs. Good secondary pitches. Aggressive in the zone. Swing-and-miss stuff. Fastballs with hop. Sinkers with horizontal movements,” said Cora, whose team was facing the Padres for the first time.
“They expand with their offspeed pitches. They’re really good.”
Cora praised his own bullpen, too, and ranked it among the sport’s top few.
Then the two-time champion went big-picture.
In October, he noted, pitchers get more rest. The implication: the postseason format will enable the Padres’ high-octane bullpen — and Cora’s own formidable crew — to bring even higher heat.
“Obviously, in October that’s going to be very interesting with the off-days and all that,” he said. “You’ve got a good bullpen, you can play that game too.”