Less than 24 hours after the Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays in heartbreaking fashion on a three-run, eighth-inning blast by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alex Cora explained why he chose not to intentionally walk the slugger.

Candidly, manager Alex Cora understood why people second-guessed his decision to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the team protecting a one-run lead in the eighth inning Thursday night in Toronto — especially after the Blue Jays slugger blasted a 3-2 pitch from Justin Slaten 404 feet to left-center field for a three-run homer that decided the Red Sox’ 4-2 loss.

The Boston Red Sox didn’t have the series they wanted to have against the Toronto Blue Jays. Boston dropped the last two games of the series against Toronto in disappointing fashion. The Red Sox had a 6-0 lead over Toronto in the second game of the series,