Red Sox's Alex Cora Calls Out MLB Umpire C.B. Bucknor After Loss to Reds, 'Wasn't His Best Day'

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora wasn't pleased with home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor's performance during his team's 6-5 road loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

Cora was ejected for his arguing after Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story struck out to end the eighth inning with his team down 5-4 and two runners on base. Story appeared to check his swing, though, before it crossed home plate.

The Red Sox could not protest the call. Check swings are not reviewable, and Boston had used its two challenges anyway.

Bucknor made the call and didn't ask for help from the first base umpire. Cora was asked after the game whether he confronted Bucknor about failing to do so.

"100 percent. He has one job to do, call balls and both on strikes. It wasn't his best day, you know, and that's what the system does, you know? He's out there, everybody sees it, and he'll be the first one to accept it. I saw him putting his head down after one of the challenges, and real human. You know, it's not easy, what we do and what he does..."

Cora also said that he didn't want Story, who began arguing with Bucknor before the manager took over, to get ejected from the game.

The Red Sox and Reds challenged on ball-strike calls eight different times, and six of them were overturned. The Reds went 5-for-5 on their challenges, including two straight called strike threes that third baseman Eugenio Suárez successfully challenged and got overturned to balls in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Story's controversial strikeout sent the game into the bottom of the eighth inning, where Cincinnati went scoreless. In the top of the ninth, Wilyer Abreu tied the game at five with a solo homer, and that helped send the game into extras. However, Cincinnati won 6-5 in 11 innings after Dane Myers' 11th-inning single.