The Astros and Red Sox played the last game of their three-game regular-season series. After winning Game 2 by a score of 14–1, Boston’s confidence was through the roof. They lost Game 3 4–1, and they also lost their manager. Alex Cora was kicked out of the game for no clear reason.

Alex Cora didn’t storm out to flair when Brown moved from wind-up to stretch. He merely wanted to know why there was no call for a balk when Duran was on third when the game was at 2–1 in the sixth inning. A balk is when a pitcher makes an unlawful move that tricks baserunners into thinking the ball is delivered, causing all runners to move up one base. But the result was Cora’s ejection at the top of the seventh inning.

When the dust finally settled at Minute Maid Park, Alex Cora shared what exactly happened during ejection. While talking to NESN, he said, “We’ve seen the situation before, that guys who have a regular windup and they ask the guys to declare. You don’t have to declare if you have a hybrid windup; that’s when you have to declare, because that way you’re not deceiving the runner. But throughout the last two years, we’ve seen situations that is a regular windup, and they’ve asked the pitcher to declare, that was the only thing.”

Alex Cora continued, “I went out there to educate myself to be honest with you. That’s what I told him. I want to learn. I don’t know if he took it that I was being sarcastic. I wasn’t. I was walking back, and he threw me out.”

This is Cora’s 22nd ejection as a manager and his fifth of the 2025 season. And Cora himself isn’t a fan of getting an ejection. “I hate being thrown out. My job is to be in the dugout and help this team to win games from the dugout.”

Now, the timing couldn’t be worse for the Red Sox, who were having a hard time figuring things out at the diamond. The Red Sox are 66–56 overall and 27–34 on the road, still trying to find a way to be consistent. And Wednesday night? Their bats went silent. They couldn’t get more than one run against Hunter Brown, who got his 10th win by giving up only one run in 6 2/3 innings.

On the contrary, the Astros dominated. Jeremy Pena hit a home run to start the game, and Yainer Diaz hit a two-out, two-run home run in the sixth. Houston took advantage of every chance Boston gave them.

But despite the series loss, the Red Sox slugger was able to match the franchise record.

Story matches Lugo’s 20-for-20 streak

On Tuesday night, Trevor Story quietly created history for the Red Sox during their 14–1 win over the Astros. He is now 20-for-20 in stolen base attempts this season. Story now ties Julio Lugo’s record for the most consecutive steals to start a year. Lugo set the record in 2007, and Story’s superb timing keeps him right there with him.

This new milestone isn’t simply a speed figure. It’s also the next step in Story’s exciting comeback.

He has had trouble with injuries since joining Boston in 2022. Trevor Story had three injury-plagued seasons in Boston, missing 298 games. He had UCL elbow surgery in 2023 and major shoulder surgery in early 2024. But now he is fully healthy and doing well all the time. In his last 56 games, he has a slash line of .301 with 11 home runs, 49 RBIs, and 11 steals.

Story has played 117 games with Boston, the most he’s ever played for them. He has a .256 batting average, 18 homers, 75 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, and a .719 OPS. The Bo Sox wanted someone who could hit consistently, play strong defense, and have a great first 20 games, and he has checked all those boxes.

Now that the record is matched, the question isn’t if he breaks it. But when and how many more steals he gets before the season finishes. Will he own this record and keep the bases buzzing?