The Boston Red Sox were trailing the rival New York Yankees 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 1 of the best-of-three American League wild-card series on Tuesday night when Red Sox manager Chad Tracy pulled starting pitcher Payton Tolle after Tolle had tossed 83 pitches.

Following what became a blowout 9-0 defeat, Tracy explained his reasoning for that controversial decision. 

Payton Tolle gave Red Sox "what he could" across 4.2 innings of work

"He competed extremely well for the time he was out there," Tracy said of Tolle, per Phillip Martinez of SNY. "He gave us what he could. The number being up in the mid-80s, still trying to get through five [innings], probably higher than what you normally see from Payton, and to be expected in an environment like this, but I thought he competed his butt off."

Tracy replaced Tolle with left-hander Erik Miller to face slugger and designated hitter Ben Rice, who quickly left the Boston skipper wondering what could have been. Rice smashed a solo home run to straightaway center field that put the Yankees up 2-0, and that at-bat proved to be somewhat of a preview of things to come. 

Later in the evening, Rice's grand slam in the bottom of the eighth allowed casual baseball fans watching the game from their homes to head to bed in preparation for their workdays. 

"That was electric," Yankees outfielder Spencer Jones said about Rice's homer in the fifth. "That insurance run, that was huge for us. A little bit of breathing room. He smoked that ball. We were super fired up about it."

Payton Tolle reacts to Chad Tracy move

Despite the fact that Rice took Miller deep, Tolle defended the manager's decision following Boston's defeat. 

"As a competitor, as a starting pitcher in this league, you want to go as long as you can every time," Tolle acknowledged. "But with what our bullpen has done all year, I believe they are going to make the right decision. I want to go as long as I can, but I understand those guys picked me up a lot this year."

The Red Sox now find themselves facing elimination heading into Wednesday's Game 2 in the Bronx. Former Yankee and current Boston starter Sonny Gray will be tasked with helping to keep Boston alive and force a Game 3, which would be held at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. 

"I haven’t heard the fat lady sing yet," Tolle added during his postgame comments. "We’re going to keep going out there. I believe in us. It’s going to be fun to watch these guys compete [Wednesday]."