Red Sox recap: Alex Cora and Walker Buehler ejected, solo homers and bullpen help take down Mets 2-0

One night after earning his first win as interim manager, Ramon Vázquez was ready to return to his role as bench coach, but a quick change in the third inning led to him managing the rest of the game.

Walker Buehler returned off the injured list Tuesday afternoon and took the mound for the first time since April 27. His night was cut short after he took issue with a missed strike call from home plate umpire Mike Estabrook as Francisco Lindor stole second base.

Estabrook overheard Buehler telling him that the previous pitch was "right down the (expletive) middle." Estabrook responded by telling Buehler to get back on the mound. Estabrook's mask removal escalated the argument, leading to Buehler's second career ejection.

As Buehler was walking off the mound, he continued to shout back some colorful words to Estabrook, “(Expletive) you,” before heading to the Sox’ dugout. Once Buehler left the field, Alex Cora was quickly ejected as he was coming out of the dugout and barked at the home plate umpire, needing to be held back by Laz Diaz at one point during their heated exchange.

“He can say stuff from the mound," Diaz told reporters after the game. "But once he comes off the mound, he’s leaving his position to argue balls and strikes. Once anybody leaves their position to argue balls and strikes, that’s an immediate ejection.”

After Cora's 18th career ejection, he slammed the dugout phone so hard that it broke.

"I was inside and they showed a replay in the fourth inning because they had that camera," said Cora. "I don’t want to make excuses, but it looked like it was very aggressive. But he’s the umpire, we have to respect that and he threw him out."

The Sox’ starter threw 52 pitches in his brief outing, walking two batters and striking out four over 2 1/3 innings of light work.

"I’ve been in this league too long for that to happen," said Buehler following the game. "For me personally, it’s one of those things where you’re very conflicted. You feel very convicted in what I felt and saw, but at the same time, this is a team game and something I let get out of hand. Personally, that’s the disappointing part of it.

"I’m not gonna talk about what he did or didn’t do. I don’t think it’s my place... I’m not gonna talk on his side of it. For me, it spiraled a little bit and he said some things he thought I shouldn’t have said and whatnot. At the end of the day, putting our team in a position like that is the only thing I really regret in that situation."

With Buehler gone, the Sox turned to their bullpen, using six relievers to help shut out the Mets offense, 2-0. The Sox got back to .500 (25-25) and have won three of their last four games.

The bullpen was brilliant, limiting the Mets to just four hits. Relievers Brennan Bernardino, Garrett Whitlock, Justin Wilson, Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten, and Aroldis Chapman were used in relief of Buehler. They shut down the final seven batters in a row, with Chapman earning his eighth save of the season.

In the two wins against the Mets, the bullpen has hurled 11 scoreless frames, with Vázquez utilizing his relievers like a seasoned skipper on the bench.

“First off, I think obviously the bullpen, like today’s game, is a story about the bullpen,” Buehler said postgame. “Obviously I put them in a really tough spot off of a day that we asked a lot of them, a lot out of them, yesterday.”

With the win, the Sox improved to 14-11 at Fenway Park this season and have won five of their last seven home games.

DEVERS ON A HEATER, NARVÁEZ LOCKED IN

Rafael Devers is batting over .400 in the month of May and has homered in three of his last four games. The Sox’ slugger belted his 210th career home run in the fifth inning, tying him with Rico Petrocelli for 10th in franchise history. It was also Devers’ 10th blast of the season and put the Red Sox up 2-0.

Devers has reached base in 22 of his last 23 games beginning on April 26 and is slashing .391/.495/.747/1.242 over that span with eight homers and 25 RBI. 

Catcher Carlos Narváez scored the first run for Boston in the fifth inning, sending a sinker that stayed over the heart of the plate from Mets starter Clay Holmes into the Green Monster seats.

Narváez now has five homers on the year and has 16 with seven RBI in his last 12 games. He is quickly cementing himself into the starter's role, with Connor Wong shifting to his backup.

CAMPBELL RETURNS

Kristian Campbell was out of the Red Sox lineup the last two nights but returned on Tuesday, this time in center field, giving Ceddanne Rafaela the night off. Campbell made a terrific running catch on a ball hit into the triangle by Brandon Nimmo in the third inning. The athletic rookie covered a lot of ground to track the ball down and make the great catch, saving two runs in the process.

Campbell has continued to work out at first base as he looks to be an in-house option to replace the injured Triston Casas. He’s only been working out there for a few days, but has been acclimating himself to the position each time out there.

“Moving well,” said Cora. “I think he has felt the work. He was a little bit tight on Sunday. So we have to be careful. That’s what you run into. We’re trying to teach him a new position. He’s learning a new position at the big league level, and now he's playing center field today, so there's a lot thrown at him, but I think physically, we have to be very careful. We don't want to lose him just because he's learning a position.”

Campbell has been working out with first base coach and infield instructor José Flores since last week.

“Flo feels like around the bag, he’s moving better,” Cora said. “The ground ball is the ground ball, right? And we do believe he's going to make plays. But I think around the bag is the most important thing. I don't know where we’re at. On a scale of 10, probably 2 1/2, 3. We’ll try to get to 10 as fast as possible, but we’re being smart about it.”

If the Red Sox move Campbell to first base, it should open the door for Marcelo Mayer to play second base. The top infield prospect played second for the WooSox on Tuesday night, a position he’s been playing at least once a week since the start of the season.

“I like the new challenge… I’ll play anywhere in the big leagues,” Mayer told Tommy Cassell of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette on Tuesday. “Whatever it takes to help the team win, whatever it takes to get me up there, I’m more than willing.”

SOX LOOK TO SWEEP

The Red Sox will look to sweep the Mets as the series concludes on Wednesday—weather permitting—with left-handed ace Garrett Crochet (4-3, 2.00 ERA) on the mound. Righty Tylor Megill (3-4, 3.74) will oppose him, with the first pitch set for 6:45 p.m. If the Sox can sweep the Mets, they will be back above .500 and they’ll have swept a National League team for the second time this season. The first came against the Cardinals during the first homestand.