Red Sox's Sonny Gray not happy for being lifted after 70 pitches - ESPN

NEW YORK — With the Boston bats ice cold at Yankee Stadium again, a couple of quick hooks by Red Sox rookie manager Chad Tracy led to another early postseason exit.

And top starter Sonny Gray wasn't happy about being lifted after only 70 pitches.

«I think I'm the best pitcher in the American League going through the order a third time. I think that's a fact,» Gray said. «I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment.»

For the second consecutive season, the Red Sox were sent home for the winter by their biggest rivals as the New York Yankees rolled to a 9-2 victory Wednesday night and a two-game sweep of their wild-card series.

Boston was outscored 18-2 overall and left to lament a miserable finish to this roller-coaster ride of a season that included Tracy taking over when Alex Cora was fired in April.

Tracy's decision-making came under fire after both games against the Yankees. In Boston's 9-0 defeat a night earlier, Tracy pulled starter Payton Tolle after 4⅔ innings and 83 pitches in a 1-0 game.

Last year, the Red Sox won their wild-card series opener before losing to the Yankees in a deciding Game 3 as they got overpowered by Cam Schlittler, who pitched another playoff gem against his hometown team Tuesday night.

«To have it end here two times in a row is tough,» shortstop Trevor Story said.

Facing a New York lineup missing injured slugger Aaron Judge, the Red Sox gave up 26 hits despite a pair of effective performances from their starting pitchers.

At the plate, Boston mustered only seven hits and finally snapped a 26-inning postseason scoring drought that dated to last year when Willson Contreras homered just over the right-center fence in the sixth Wednesday.

«It's obviously been an eventful year. In the