Red Sox beat Orioles in first game since Alex Cora's firing

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Apr 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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When the sun rose over Baltimore on Sunday morning, the Boston Red Sox awoke with a lingering sense of disbelief. Hours earlier longtime manager Alex Cora and a large chunk of his coaching staff had been abruptly fired, and now the players were left trying to process everything and figure out what would come next.

And yet, baseball season doesn’t stop for anyone, and despite all the chaos the Red Sox still had a game to play.

Setting aside all of the off-field drama, the Red Sox wrapped up what was ultimately a successful weekend in Baltimore. The Red Sox beat the Orioles 5-3 for their second straight win to take the series, riding a strong outing by rookie left-hander Connelly Early while picking up some timely hits, most notably a two-run home run from Willson Contreras in the fifth.

The win also marked interim manager Chad Tracy’s first MLB victory, as well as the 500th of his career as a professional manager.

The game got off to a quiet start. Through the first four innings the Red Sox had plenty of chances, but while Orioles starter Kyle Bradish was not sharp, the club couldn’t punish him.

That finally changed in the top of the fifth when Caleb Durbin led off with a single, stole second base and then scored the game’s first run on an RBI single by Andruw Monasterio. That was followed shortly after by a Contreras two-run home run, who went deep for the second straight game to put the Red Sox ahead 3-0.

Bradish finished with three runs allowed over five innings with four hits, four walks and three strikeouts.

Baltimore answered with a solo shot by Samuel Basallo off Early in the bottom of the fifth, but the Red Sox kept coming and added to their lead in the sixth. Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Marcelo Mayer led off the inning with three straight hits off reliever Grant Wolfram, including an RBI triple by Rafaela and an RBI single by Mayer that made it 5-1 Boston.

Early, meanwhile, continued his strong outing and only allowed a second solo shot to Gunnar Henderson in the sixth. He finished with two runs allowed on four hits, a walk and four strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings, pitching into the seventh inning for the first time in his career.

The Orioles got one more run in the eighth on an RBI single by Henderson off Garrett Whitlock to make it 5-3, but he and Aroldis Chapman closed the game out from there.

To the extent that the short-staffed Red Sox had a gameplan in place, it was clear the club intended to cause as much havoc on the base paths as they could. The club ran at every turn and finished with four stolen bases on the day, their most in a single game this season so far.

The game was also the latest indicator that Mayer is starting to figure things out at the plate. After batting .174 with a .543 OPS through his first 18 games, Mayer is now 6 for 15 (.400) with three RBI and three doubles over his last six games, including 1 for 4 with an RBI in Sunday’s win.

Now, with one of the wildest weekends in recent franchise memory behind them, the Red Sox will fly to Toronto to continue their road trip in search of a third straight win.

Clubhouse reacts

Prior to Sunday’s game, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and interim manager Chad Tracy spoke to Red Sox players to address them about the club’s managerial change.

Speaking to reporters in the Camden Yards visitor’s clubhouse afterwards, several veteran Red Sox players offered unusually candid assessments of the meeting and in some cases frustration about the situation.

Shortstop Trevor Story was particularly heated. According to Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic and others, Story said the explanation the players received from Breslow was not sufficient and that he didn’t believe the fired coaches got a fair shot.

“It’s kind of up in the air what the true direction of the franchise is,” Story said.

According to Tim Healey of the Boston Globe and others, right-hander Garrett Whitlock said Breslow spoke for about two minutes and Tracy for about five minutes. Principal owner John Henry and CEO Sam Kennedy were in the room but did not speak, and Whitlock said players were not invited to ask questions about the change.

“They made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball and we need to just focus on playing baseball,” Whitlock said.

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