Seven years after guiding the Boston Red Sox to a World Series title, Alex Cora is still one of the best managers in baseball.

He proved that during the Red Sox’s tense 5-4 extra-innings win over the Athletics at Fenway Park on Wednesday night — a game Boston absolutely had to have .

With the Cleveland Guardians beating the Detroit Tigers 4-0 for their sixth straight win, the Red Sox needed to beat the A’s to maintain their 2.5-game lead for the third Wild Card spot. A loss would slice their lead to 1.5 games (and just one in the loss column) with 10 to play.

On a night where Lucas Giolito (four runs, five walks in 4 1/3 innings) didn’t have his best stuff and Boston stranded a small army of baserunners (13 left on base, 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position), Cora pushed all th

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