NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Purple Sox seem to have dodged an enormous bullet.
Through the backside of the primary inning of Friday’s recreation in opposition to the Atlanta Braves, Purple Sox outfielders Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela collided in left area making an attempt to chase down a fly ball off the bat of Jurickson Profar. The 2 went down and had been instantly attended by the trainers, however after a few minutes each had been again on their toes and remained within the recreation.
The collision between LF Roman Anthony and CF Ceddane Rafaela – through @Braves @redsox @wbz pic.twitter.com/UwQj8BuHIO
— Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) February 27, 2026
Anthony and Rafaela every mentioned later that the collision was a results of a miscommunication, however they had been each nice.
“We each referred to as it and I believed I obtained it and he thought he obtained it,” Rafaela mentioned. “It was a misunderstanding.”
Cora expressed frustration in regards to the lack of communication postgame, noting that if the middle fielder requires the ball, it’s his ball.
“When that doesn’t occur, issues like that may occur,” Cora mentioned.
Anthony appeared to take the brunt of the influence, as Rafaela was on his toes first and the trainers spent extra time trying on the second-year standout. Anthony mentioned he hit Rafaela in a bizarre spot together with his left arm, however that he may inform straight away he wasn’t injured and that it was “nothing loopy, just a bit bruise.”
“I simply needed to take a second, we obtained the wind knocked out of each of us I feel a bit bit there and hit him fairly laborious and needed to ensure he was good,” Anthony mentioned. “Bizarre feeling at first however nothing too loopy.”
Rafaela mentioned he obtained hit by Anthony’s knee on his left hamstring, however equally knew he wasn’t injured.
“I used to be simply hoping he was okay, I used to be extra nervous about him than I used to be about me,” Rafaela mentioned. “I noticed him in some ache and I don’t like seeing my teammates in these varieties of conditions.”
Each gamers finally gave the thumbs up and remained within the recreation. Shortly afterwards within the third inning Anthony hit a single up the center off of former Purple Sox ace Chris Sale, and Rafaela stepped up subsequent at bat and hit an reverse area two-run dwelling run to deep proper heart area.
Rafaela (1 for two, dwelling run) was subbed out within the backside of the fourth inning, and Anthony (1 for 3, one run) got here out within the backside of the sixth. Each gamers mentioned they’re good to play on Saturday if referred to as upon.
Like a scene out of Batman
With the data that his beginning left and heart fielders had been okay, Cora completed his postgame remarks by making a humorous comparability to a scene from the “The Darkish Knight,” particularly the half the place the Joker has captured each district lawyer Harvey Dent and assistant DA Rachel Dawes, Batman’s love curiosity, and forces Batman to decide on who to save lots of.
“The Joker has them break up up and you must choose one. I made certain I picked each,” Cora mentioned. “We had been watching it like per week in the past and it felt that method, however I made certain ‘are you okay, are you okay, are you okay?’ We’re good.”
An all-timer of an trade on the finish of Alex Cora’s postgame scrum, the place he compares speeding out to test on Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela to a scene from The Darkish Knight. pic.twitter.com/xgBwoSewWV
— Mac Cerullo (@MacCerullo) February 27, 2026
No replace on Rodgers
Previous to Friday’s recreation Alex Cora mentioned second baseman Brendan Rodgers underwent an MRI on his injured proper shoulder on Thursday, however the membership continues to be awaiting the outcomes.
“We’ll in all probability have data tomorrow,” Cora mentioned.
Rodgers suffered the damage throughout Wednesday’s recreation in opposition to the Minnesota Twins. The previous Gold Glove winner is amongst a handful of non-roster invitees vying for a spot on the Purple Sox’s bench.
Further innings
Proper-hander Kutter Crawford and left-hander Patrick Sandoval threw reside batting follow earlier Friday, which Cora mentioned went very effectively. The 2 veterans are anticipated to each throw a number of innings of reside BP subsequent earlier than doubtlessly progressing to recreation motion. … Left-hander Alec Gamboa, a non-roster invitee, has been shut down for 3 days with an unspecified damage suffered earlier this week, Cora mentioned. … Infielder Anthony Seigler (knee) has resumed hitting however stays day-to-day. … Proper-hander Johan Oviedo (sickness) was again at Purple Sox camp on Friday after heading dwelling early on Thursday. … Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng has left Purple Sox camp to hitch Crew Chinese language Taipei forward of the World Baseball Traditional. The membership’s different members will be a part of their respective groups within the coming days.
