The Yankees are making Alex Cora’s pitch quite easy.
The Red Sox manager continues to implore his front office to bolster a team that has now drawn within two games in the loss column of the Yankees amid their epic slide.
Boston downed the Athletics on Tuesday night, 12-9, to move 10 games over .500 for the first time this season, while the Yankees’ misery continued with a 5-3 loss to the Rays.
“We talked about being greedy a few weeks ago, we saw a window (in the standings), but I think the window is getting bigger,” Cora said, according to MLB.com.
“It’s actually a door and we can actually accomplish this. We’re going to keep looking up there and keep playing good baseball and let’s see where it takes us.”
What might have once been considered laughable has become a reality as the Yankees’ 6-17 skid coinciding with Boston’s 18-7 run has placed the Bronx Bombers in Boston’s crosshairs.
The Yankees led the Red Sox by as much as 14 games on June 12, but that lead has shrunk to 3.5 games in less than one month.
Cora had originally implored his front office to be buyers rather than sellers on June 26, while sitting at 43-37, while the Yankees’ slide had begun.
“We’ll see what happens in a month, month and a half. We’ve just got to keep playing better baseball,” Cora said at the time, per CBS in Boston. “Let’s get greedy.”
He added: “There’s teams ahead of us that, they’re not playing good baseball. I know one of them is probably only for five days, but there’s more out there. Let’s not settle for the third Wild Card. Let’s go higher, and see where the season takes us.”
Boston leads the Royals (49-43) — whom they face this weekend to close the first half — by two games for the third and final wild-card spot, but are now just 1.5 games behind Minnesota for the No. 5 seed and within striking distance of the fourth-seeded Yankees.
That should put Boston in a position to buy, although owner John Henry has not been as aggressive as expected in recent years as Boston has sunk from baseball’s elite.
The Red Sox, led by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, could use an extra late-inning reliever or two, like most teams, and perhaps some bench upgrades and rotation depth.