BOSTON (AP) – Red Sox manager Alex Cora will miss Monday´s series opener against the New York Mets at Fenway Park so he can attend his daughter´s college graduation.

Cora´s daughter, Camila, will be graduating from nearby Boston College.

“It´s going to be a very special day – one that I´m not going to miss,” Cora said before Boston faced the Atlanta Braves in the series finale on Sunday. “I 100% will miss the game for that. I will do that any given day. It´s going to be a very special day for us.”

Cora reflected how the time has seemed to go quickly and spoke about how fast his daughter seemed to grow up.

“It went fast, it went really fast,” Cora said of her time in college. “For a girl from divorced parents, her mom did an amazing job, staying the course while I was playing and coaching and doing my ESPN thing. … She´s actually a reflection of her. I appreciate everything she´s done for her and for us.”

Asked if he´ll be able to hold back his emotions at the ceremony, Cora smiled and said: “We´ll see” before bringing up memories of when his daughter was at the 2018 World Series victory celebration and a postseason series wrap-up win over Tampa Bay in ´21 at Fenway.

“It´s going to be an amazing day. It happened fast,” he said. “You put everything into perspective, you go back to the videos of ´18, she was a little girl.

“Then you go back to ´21 when she hopped onto the field when we beat Tampa, she was still a little girl. Now, she´s not a little girl,” he said. “She´s a woman. She had fun with it. She´s a great student and the future´s bright for her.”

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