Former Cardinal Sonny Gray subtly rips Red Sox's philosophy after botching ALWCS

St. Louis Cardinals fans know firsthand that Sonny Gray can be electric on the mound, but that he also sometimes runs out of gas on the mound earlier than you'd expect, or has a shorter start to remain highly effective. The Boston Red Sox know this too, but Gray was clearly frustrated by how they handled his outing with their season on the line.

During the fifth inning with the Yankees up 1-0 and two runners on base, the Red Sox pulled Gray with just 70 pitches when Cody Bellinger came to the plate, and reliever Erik Miller proceeded to allow a second run to score before getting out of that jam.

The Yankees would blow the game open in the bottom of the sixth inning, taking an 8-1 lead before eventually sending their arch rivals home after a two-game series sweep in the Wild Card round.

Gray's postgame comments sure pointed to how much he disagreed with the Red Sox's decision to pull him.

Former Cardinal Sonny Gray is right to be furious with Red Sox

When asked about the decision following the game, Gray pointed to the fact that he's one of the best in baseball this season when facing a lineup a third time (1.99 ERA and .515 OPS against him), so being pulled at 70 pitches was quite baffling to him on the biggest stage.

Another former Cardinal in Willson Contreras also had some choice words for the Red Sox decision-making in that moment, and it really does appear that the clubhouse is furious with how things were handled.

It's been a really messy year for the Red Sox, who fired manager Alex Cora earlier in the year, and out of that bubbled up a multitude of issues related to how things were being run in the front office and the dugout. Boston did turn things around after that and made a strong run to the postseason, but things started unraveling again at the end of the year, and now they've been embarrassed by the Yankees in the postseason.

It's hard not to agree with Gray in this situation. Sure, his history of pitching in the Bronx is not great, and during his career he has struggled when going deeper into starts, but he's been so good this year. He's going to finish top 3 in American League Cy Young voting for the second time in his career, and that's the type of arm you ride with in a moment like that. I know it's a do-or-die situation, but I would think they'd want their best starter on the mound to navigate through that spot - especially when Gray wants to be in.

There have been times in the past when Gray has asked to leave the game, and if that happened here, it would be a completely different story. But the Red Sox got way too cute here, and I can't say it's the reason they were just knocked out of the postseason, but it sure made things harder for them.

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