Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is at the mercy of fans after a tough loss to the Houston Astros on Monday night.

Midway through a game against an AL Wild Card rival, Cora pulled starter Chris Sale in favor of relief pitcher Kyle Barraclough. Unfortunately for Cora, that decision did not go according to plan, as Barraclough gave up 10 runs in relief over the final 4.1 innings. Boston would lose handily to the Astros, 13-5. With the defeat, the Red Sox are now 5.5 games behind the Astros for the final AL Wild Card spot.

As frustrating as Cora's antics may have been for fans, the Red Sox manager claims he was thinking of the days ahead, and resting his bullpen while he can.

"We had a lot of guys down," Cora said, per CBS Sports. "This is where we were. We had Chris [Martin] and we had Kenley [Jansen]. It just didn't happen for [Barraclough] today. He'd been throwing strikes the whole time in the minor leagues and Triple A. He was the guy in there and it just didn't happen."

Red Sox: Why didn't Alex Cora pull Kyle Barraclough?

Once Boston fell behind a few runs, the writing was on the wall for the Sox, or so Cora thought. This is why he left Barraclough in -- to gain MLB experience and eat innings. Barraclough threw 91 pitches in relief, but likely saved the Red Sox bullpen in the process.

"It's awful, I feel bad," Cora said. "It happened to [the Astros] last week when they brought up a guy who threw 100 pitches and saved their bullpen when we beat them. [Barraclough] wanted to go out in the ninth and we were thinking about sending a position player. You saw me. My face was probably all over TV. It was uncomfortable."

It is the dog days of summer, after all, and Cora is willing to stick to his guns. Take the L, as frustrating as it may be, and move on. Cora is one of the better managers in baseball for a reason, even if we don't always understand his actions.