Aug 19, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Corbin Martin (48) high-fives catcher Alex Jackson (70) after a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

Red Sox's Justification For Key Decision In Gut-Wrenching Loss Doesn't Add Up

Originally posted on Boston Red Sox on SI
By Jackson Roberts | Last updated Aug 20, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The term "gut punch" might be overused on occasion, but it assuredly applied to the Boston Red Sox's 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.

The Red Sox loaded the bases in the eighth inning with no outs, the ninth inning with two outs, and the 10th inning with one out, and failed to score in all of those situations. That's the No. 1 reason one can point out for the loss, but the split-second decision made in the bottom of the 11th was nonetheless hard to stomach.

With the tying run on third and one out, Roman Anthony hit a pop-up to center fielder Colton Cowser that wasn't that deep, but wasn't that shallow, either. With the fleet-footed Nate Eaton running, Cowser fired home, and his throw was 45 feet offline, which should have easily tied the game for Boston.

But Eaton was already walking back to third base.

Alex Cora's lackluster justification for not sending Nate Eaton

Eaton has 95th percentile sprint speed, while Cowser has 95th percentile arm strength. Anthony's hit traveled 265 feet, right on the cusp of the go-zone. But the way the Red Sox told the tale afterwards, it sounded as if the decision not to run in that situation was practically predetermined.

“That’s an impact arm in center field,” manager Alex Cora said, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “We prepare before the series and we decide who we’re going to challenge or not. So we didn’t challenge it.”

Cora may be the team's mouthpiece in good times and bad, but third base coach Kyle Hudson was the one who ultimately had to make the call.

“Staying with the play the whole time, watching the play develop, understanding the work that went into it, understanding that’s an impact arm in center field,” Hudson said, per Smith. “You see the play develop and use your instincts and make the decision. That’s the decision I made. Obviously, the throw was off-line. We gotta live with it. And I live with it. It is what it is at this point.”

In that situation, you have to feel like the odds of Cowser throwing out Eaton at the plate are greater than the odds the Orioles prevent Alex Bregman (or Jarren Duran behind him) from getting the game-tying hit. Since Bregman bats about .300, that would mean for the decision to be logical, Cowser would have had to have a 70+% chance of throwing Eaton out.

It was the last, and arguably most memorable failure in a long night of failures. And for the 68-59 Red Sox, it could have lasting ramifications on the odds of breaking a four-year playoff drought.

This article first appeared on Boston Red Sox on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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