Justin Verlander explains shouting match with Red Sox manager Alex Cora over PitchCom: "He thought I was using it as a tactic"

During Justin Verlander's dominant win over the Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros ace and one of his former coaches got into it on the field. The ace shook off his catcher several times and then pleaded with the umpires that his PitchCom wasn't working.

Alex Cora, who was a bench coach for the Astros when they won the World Series in 2017, came out of the dugout to argue. He felt that Verlander was being dishonest in an attempt to avoid an automatic ball from the pitch clock.

Verlander ended up going six innings with five hits, zero runs and nine strikeouts. Cora was eventually ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes.

After the game, the former New York Mets pitcher was asked about the exchcnage with Cora. Via MLB.com, he said:

“Alex comes out there and starts arguing. I had been shaking [off Maldonado] and [Cora] starts to argue my PitchCom was clearly working. 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.”

A hot mic picked up a testy exchange between the two, with Verlander explaining that one as well:

“In part, that was me being like, ‘I’m done with this. You do what you want, talk to the umpire, I’m going to go worry about pitching.'"

After the game, Cora said:

"He's one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game. He did a good job today."

The Red Sox finally broke through the scoring column after Verlander's exit but fell 7-3 anyway.

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