Sonny Gray wanted more of a chance to save the Red Sox season.
When it wasn’t given to him, with Gray being pulled in the fifth inning in a move that backfired in a 9-2 Game 2 wild-card loss to the Yankees on Wednesday night that ended Boston’s season, the ex-Yankee bust made it clear he believed he should have been trusted in that spot.
“I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order for a third time. I think that’s a fact,” Gray told reporters after the game. “I would’ve liked to live or die with me in that moment but that’s the competitor I am. Yeah, I think you can probably ask the guys and they felt the same way.
“I felt strong. I felt confident. I felt convicted … but what can you do, you know?”
Gray only threw 70 pitches when he was pulled after 4⅔ innings with two on and two outs in 1-0 game, having allowed one solo homer to Luis Garcia Jr. at that point.
After Ben Rice singled in the fifth inning to advance Austin Wells to third base with two outs, manager Chad Tracy replaced Gray with lefty reliever Erik Miller.
Bellinger greeted Miller with an RBI single to boost the Yankees lead to 2-0, leaving Gray with two earned runs on his ledger to go along with six hits and five strikeouts.
When asked if he had talked to Tracy since the manager’s polarizing decision, the frustrated 36-year-old shook his head and said “No.”
“I think I got clipped for a solo home run and then some singles, but I felt like I stayed on the attack throughout,” Gray added. “I’m frustrated, for sure. You know, not ready for it to end. A lot of emotions.”
A reporter asked Red Sox fire baseman Willson Contreras about the team’s thoughts on Gray coming out early.
The four-time All-Star made the motion that his lips are sealed, and didn’t provide an answer.
“It’s not enough when you have talent or you have data or you have computers that’s telling you what to do, because this is baseball,” Contreras said in response to another question. “The data is here to help us, but at the end of the day you are going to have to need experience and veteran guys to win games.”
Tracy’s decision-making was also questioned following the Yankees’ 9-0 Game 1 win on Tuesday night when he pulled starter Payton Tolle after 4⅔ innings as well while trailing 1-0.
He was just 83 pitches in when Miller replaced him and allowed a solo homer to Ben Rice.
Both nights it seemed Tracy was eager to get to his bullpen, which was baseball’s best during the regular season with a 3.00 ERA.
Yet, the bullpen finished this series with a staggering 20.25 ERA after giving up 15 runs, 15 hits and seven walks across 6⅔ innings.
“It’s obviously been an eventful year. In the moment right now you can’t think much more other than anything but the fact that we just lost a playoff series,” Tracy said.
The Red Sox were outscored 18-2 overall and it’s the second consecutive season where they have been sent home by their biggest rivals.
The organization and Tracy will have a lot of questions to answer for an up and down season that included firing Alex Cora in April.
