NEW YORK -- Following his team¡¯s 7-1 victory over the Yankees on Saturday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was adamant in his belief that Gerrit Cole hit Rafael Devers on purpose in his first at-bat, three innings before the Yankees ace stunningly walked Devers intentionally with the bases empty and one out.

When asked Sunday if he considered the situation ¡°a closed case,¡± Cora gave a candid answer.

¡°Yeah,¡± Cora said prior to his team¡¯s 5-2 loss to the Yankees. ¡°It was closed yesterday, like, around the sixth inning, so you know, we had our chance. It didn't happen. We have to move on.¡±

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Red Sox righty Brayan Bello threw a pitch that went behind Yankees star slugger Aaron Judge and missed hitting him.

Cora had conversations with both Judge and Boone between the end of Saturday¡¯s game and the start of Sunday¡¯s.

¡°It was a good convo. I'll kind of keep it at that,¡± said Judge. ¡°You play this game for a while, things like that happen. I know they're upset that three of their guys got hit that day, and I think they're just protecting their players.

¡°So something's got to happen, and that's the way this game kind of gets policed. It's been policed for over 100 years. So I think the biggest thing is, just don't miss when you do it."

Cora considers Boone one of his best friends, as they used to work together at ESPN. While there is no bad blood between them, it¡¯s clear they didn¡¯t quite see eye to eye on this one.

¡°We talked, and there's two ways of seeing it, right? Their dugout and our dugout,¡± said Cora. ¡°And, like I told him, ¡®Put yourself in our shoes and you will understand why we feel this way.¡¯ We¡¯ll leave it at that.¡±

"Yeah, that's not allowed,¡± Boone said after Sunday¡¯s game, when apprised of what Cora said prior to the game regarding the pitch that almost hit Judge. ¡°That's for somebody else to deal with. So we're finished playing with them for now. So we're on to Seattle now. But you can't do that.¡±

Unless the 75-75 Red Sox make a miracle run in the last 12 games of the season, the rivals won¡¯t meet up again until 2025.

Boone also addressed the situation in his meeting with reporters prior to Sunday¡¯s game.

"First of all, I would say Gerrit was not throwing at him,¡± said Boone. ¡°I have a lot of respect for Alex and think he's great at what he does. I think it's also a manager that's using that moment a little bit to rally his troops a little bit as they're fighting for their playoff lives.

¡°They're playing for a lot over there, and I think this is an opportunity to galvanize them a little bit. I think [there is] probably a little gamesmanship to it. So that's part of it. Today is an important day for us. It's an important day for them. We have a chance to finish off a really good homestand, and that's kind of where our focus is."

The Yankees stayed focused on their task, winning for the third time in four days against their rivals, who left town on the brink of falling out of contention.