Alex Cora cursed at by Justin Verlander, ejected in Red Sox loss - ESPN

Alex Cora was on the receiving end of an expletive from Astros ace Justin Verlander and later was ejected for arguing balls and strikes during a contentious game Tuesday night for the Red Sox manager.

Verlander was unhappy with Cora for coming onto the field and telling him to hurry up in the second inning when the three-time Cy Young Award winner's PitchCom device was malfunctioning.

Verlander brushed off Cora with the expletive, saying «f--- off, Alex» during an exchange that was caught by the field microphones.

Cora, who was Houston's bench coach during the Astros' 2017 World Series run fueled in part by Verlander, told reporters that he thought the veteran right-hander was pretending to experience problems with his PitchCom in order to avoid a pitch-clock violation.

«We've seen this before,» Cora told reporters, according to MassLive.com. «I think we've been in that place, too — kind of [acting] like the PitchCom doesn't work. But when you're shaking off, shaking off, shaking off, what are you shaking off for?… I told him he shook off a few times. He said he did not. I said, 'Just go pitch' and then he blew me off.»

Verlander laughed it off after that game, saying Cora might have done it just to try and fluster him.

«In part it was just me being like, I'm done with this,» said Verlander, who pitched six scoreless innings in Houston's 7-3 victory. «You do what you want, talk to the umpire. I'm going to worry about pitching.»

Cora and Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo were both ejected for arguing balls and strikes in separate incidents after the spat with Verlander. Verdugo was ejected in the top of the fourth by plate umpire Pat Hoberg, who also tossed Cora after the manager objected to the call of ball four to Alex