TORONTO — OK, so you want to take out Alex Cora on a double-play turn, with a slide that was maybe counter to the current etiquette?

Well, take this, said Cora to Lyle Overbay and the Toronto Blue Jays in so many words, using his baseball bat and his legs to do the talking for him.

Cora, Boston’s heady, outstanding utility infielder, snapped a tie with a hustling ninth-inning triple and tallied an insurance run as the Red Sox overtook the Blue Jays, 5-3, yesterday at the Rogers Centre.

Cora’s offensive heroics came a half-inning after his spectacular, tie-saving double-play turn despite Overbay’s best (and out-of-the-baseline) efforts to break up the play. The victory in the rubber game of the three-game set gives the Red Sox a little momentum heading into this weekend’s three-game showdown with the New York Yankees, the first meeting of the season for the American League East rivals.

And it was accomplished in true team fashion. Manny Ramirez finally emerged from his cocoon and hammered his first homer of the year. Struggling Coco Crisp contributed a pair of bunt singles and a long sacrifice fly. Pinch runner Julio Lugo’s speed helped produce the tie-breaking run.

On the mound, meanwhile, there were plenty of encouraging moments from Julian Tavarez, Joel Pineiro, J.C. Romero, Mike Timlin (1-0) and Jonathan Papelbon.

But front and center yesterday was Cora.

He began the game at shortstop, giving Lugo a day off from the starting lineup, and ended it at second base after Lugo entered the game.

Late in the contest, though, Cora was the pivotal player in many different aspects.

He took over the spotlight just when it seemed as if the Jays were going to shrug off Ramirez’s tying homer in the eighth and push home the tie-breaking run in the bottom of the inning.

Toronto had runners at first and third with one out when Aaron Hill hit a one-hopper back to Timlin, setting the pivotal play in motion.

Timlin did not make a good throw to second, the ball tailing high and a bit toward the right-field side of the bag.

“I thought he was closer to the bag,” said Timlin. “I kind of short-armed the throw.”

Cora, though, went up and made the catch, nimbly able to tap the bag with his right foot for the force-out. as he came to earth. By then, Overbay was bearing down on him.

Cora’s momentum took him away from the bag, but Overbay slid hard into him, putting his arms up as he barreled into him, most likely out of self-preservation. Cora somehow managed to get off the throw to first a split-second before contact, and Hill was out by an eyelash for the double play that preserved the 3-3 deadlock.

If, in umpire Ed Montague’s judgment, Overbay couldn’t have reached out and touched the bag where he had slid, it could have been ruled an automatic double play. That rule, though, isn’t enforced often, and it wasn’t yesterday, even though Overbay’s arms weren’t long enough to make it a legal slide.

Cora was not a happy camper as he got off the dirt. He had some choice words for Overbay.

“I was talking Spanish. I can’t say it,” said Cora of the phrase, which, undoubtedly was not fit for print in a newspaper.

“That’s something I really don’t like about the game, that part,” said Cora of Overbay’s slide. “It’s part of the game sometimes, but it was a tackle. He couldn’t even reach the bag. It was double play anyway, I thought [by rule]. I don’t mind if you go in hard, but [you have to be able to] touch the bag,” said Cora.

From the Jays’ side, the slide didn’t seem to be an issue. Overbay wasn’t available to comment. Ex-Providence College star John McDonald, a sterling utility infielder in his own right, could understand where Cora was coming from, however.

“I don’t know if it was a good slide or not,” said McDonald. “I’ve been hit many times. But the way the game is played today, not too many guys go in hard to break up double plays anymore. A lot of guys just peel off. It’s a shame because [that type of slide, a takeout slide in the baselines] is part of the game. Alex plays the game the way the game is supposed to be played.”

Cora, meanwhile, was not saying Overbay was a bad guy, either.

“He’s a great guy, but that play there, I don’t like that,” said Cora.

The adrenaline still was flowing when Cora came to the plate with Lugo running at first and one out and the Jays bringing in their new closer, Jason Frasor.

“Tito asked me if I was all right,” said Cora, still steamed by the slide. “I had to focus.”

Cora focused well. He bashed a 1-and-0 pitch from Frasor to deep left-center. The Jays set up a relay to try and catch Lugo at the plate, so Cora hustled his way over to third.

“I had to go to third,” said Cora. “I didn’t want them making a play at the plate, maybe a close play. If they [cut off the ball and] get me in a rundown [going to third], at least we score [and go ahead by a run].”

Because Cora had taken the extra base, Crisp’s fly to deep center produced an insurance run.

“He plays the game is what he does,” said Francona in admiration of Cora. “That ball [Timlin’s throw] was going to go into center field and we’d be chasing it down, but [he caught it] and ended up getting a double play. He gets hit, hangs in there [on the DP], helps us with his bat and he helps us with his legs by getting to third, running [out of the batter’s box] from the get-go.”

In other words, Cora did it all in an outstanding team win that leaves Boston in first place, one game ahead of the Yankees.

skrasner@projo.com