NEW YORK -- Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale says he's "as frustrated as I've ever been on a baseball field," calling his performance this season "flat-out embarrassing" following an 8-0 loss to the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.

While Sale flashed the high-powered fastball and biting slider that defined him as he established himself as one of the game's best pitchers, Yankees hitters still tuned him up for four runs in five innings. Sale's season ERA dropped to 8.50, and he suffered his fourth loss of the year, matching his total for the entire 2018 season.

"I just flat-out stink right now," the winless Sale said. "I don't know what it is. When you're going good, it's good. When you're going bad, it's pretty bad."

Pitching at Yankee Stadium on six days' rest, Sale cruised through the first two innings, with his fastball topping out at 97 mph after languishing in the low 90s in his first three starts. A pair of two-out, run-scoring singles in the third from DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit plated the Yankees' first two runs. An inning later, outfielder Clint Frazier whacked a hanging Sale changeup out to right field -- the fifth home run that Sale has allowed in 18 innings this season -- and rookie Mike Tauchman doubled home another run to stake James Paxton a healthy lead.

Paxton didn't need much. He won the battle of hard-throwing left-handers, striking out 12 and allowing two hits over eight shutout innings.

As Boston's record dropped to 6-12, the Red Sox tried to keep perspective on their perplexing start following a World Series title. Manager Alex Cora took solace in the return of Sale's raw stuff, expecting that it would lead to more come his fifth start this season.

"I don't want to say it's a work in progress, because we're not here to build up," Cora said. "I'm not going to be surprised if, in his next outing, he's right where we need him to be. ... He's very close to the 'real' Chris Sale."

Sale did not take the same solace. Even as his looping slider held the Yankees at bay, New York teed off on his fastball, going 5-for-8 in at-bats that ended with the pitch.

"Doesn't matter how hard you throw or how fancy it looks," Sale said. "You need to throw up zeros."

Sale is far from the only Red Sox pitcher who has struggled to do so. Boston's team ERA this season is 6.09. The Red Sox have allowed a major league-leading 114 runs. The Red Sox's minus-40 run differential is the worst in the American League and only three runs ahead of the Miami Marlins'. Boston's offensive struggles have only compounded the pitching travails.

In better times, Sale was the salve for such troubles. On the eve of the season, the Red Sox signed him to a five-year, $145 million contract extension that begins in the 2020 season. However concerned the organization might have been about Sale's shoulder troubles last season or low velocity in spring training, it did not intend to let the left-hander reach free agency this winter.

Now, Sale is in the midst of what he called the worst stretch of his 10-year career, which has included six consecutive top-5 finishes in AL Cy Young balloting and, coming into the season, a 2.89 ERA, 103-65 record and 1,789 strikeouts in 1,482⅓ innings.

"I've got to find a way to pitch better," Sale said. "This is flat-out embarrassing. For my family, for my team, for our fans. This is about as bad as it gets. I have to pitch better. I keep saying the same things, but at the end of the day, you go out there and give up four runs here, five runs here, seven runs here ... if I get into the sixth or seventh inning like I should -- that's who I am.

"I'm supposed to pitch into the sixth, seventh, eighth inning, finish games and stuff like that, save our bullpen, cut it off when we're losing and keep winning streaks going. That's not who I've been."

Asked if, as Cora said, the "real" version of him is coming, Sale said: "You'd better f---ing hope so."

NEW YORK -- Since he was in the minor leagues, James Paxton, whether he wins, loses or draws a no-decision, has done the exact same thing in the days after he makes a start.

He picks up the phone.

The left-handed pitcher's post-outing routine regularly includes long conversations with the dedicated sports psychologist he connected with years ago after signing with mega-agent Scott Boras.

On the heels of a disappointing five-run, four-inning shelling at Houston last week, and with his first foray into the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry looming this week, the southpaw felt compelled in recent days to chat not just once with the psychologist -- but twice.

"It was big," Paxton said. "Those conversations definitely helped."

A 12-strikeout two-hitter across eight masterful innings was evidence of just how much they did.

Making his rivalry debut, Paxton gave the battered, bruised and banged-up Yankees precisely what they needed in an 8-0 win Tuesday night over the similarly scuffling Red Sox.

Neither team may be leading the American League East right now, but the Yankees are hopeful a performance like the one their entire team had in such a meaningful early-season game might spark a run of some kind.

"This is a big game for us," Paxton said. "The rivalry really got the juices flowing, got the boys going, and everyone played well: defense, we hit the ball really well, we were taking good at-bats, pitched well. Everything kind of came together, and hopefully we can build off of this and get on a roll."

If the 7-9 Yankees do begin rattling off wins, many of them might credit Paxton's stellar outing for getting it all started.

"Paxton was unreal tonight," left fielder Clint Frazier said. "He was confident. From the get-go, he was out there throwing 100 [mph]. And when you're doing that, it's going to be hard to hit a guy whenever his stuff's going like that.

"There's a reason he's here, and it's for moments like that. That's really impressive to go out and watch."

Officially, Paxton's four-seam fastball peaked at 99.2 mph. It was the 99.1 mph heater he threw to close out an 11-pitch 1-2-3 first inning that helped convince the southpaw he was about to have a special night.

Part of Paxton's conversations with his psychologist revolved around establishing himself as the aggressor as early in Tuesday's start as possible. That meant not only relying on his gas, but leaning heavily upon it. After two innings, 20 of the 26 pitches Paxton had thrown were four-seamers.

"Everything comes off my fastball," Paxton said. "Because I was throwing hard, they had to cheat to it, and that allowed me to throw the breaking ball later in the game and get some chases on that because they were cheating to the fastball. When I'm throwing that fastball like that, everything plays off of it."

Catcher Austin Romine noticed the life in Paxton's fastball very early in the game. He decided to call it often.

"Anytime you get someone throwing upper 90s -- 98, 99 -- that's a weapon that you've got to use," Romine said.

As good as Paxton's fastball was early, it was just as strong late. While facing four batters in a full eighth inning, he was still living in the upper registers of the 90s. In a seven-pitch at-bat against Mookie Betts to close out the eighth, Paxton's six four-seamers registered the following on the radar gun: 97.3 mph, 97.1, 97.2, 98.5, 97.7 and 97.4.

The 98.5 mph fastball came on Paxton's 108th pitch of the game.

"I feel like he's settled in," manager Aaron Boone said. "I know he wanted to be a little more aggressive and pitch with more intent and confidence, and he went out there and did it himself, and completely set the tone for the night just with his stuff and his pounding of the zone."

Of the 110 pitches Paxton threw, 78 were 95.0 mph or faster.

Virtually unhittable, this was the 12th time in Paxton's seven-year career that he had 10 or more strikeouts in a game. His 12 strikeouts also were the second-most in his career in a single game, outpaced only by the 16 he had against Oakland last May.

"That's what he's capable of when he has his really good stuff," Boone said.

Paxton also became the first Yankees pitcher to record an eight-inning, 12-strikeout game against the Red Sox since Sept. 2, 2001, when Hall of Famer Mike Mussina was perfect for 8 2/3 innings before Carl Everett reached with a base hit.

Paxton also became the first pitcher in Yankees history to have 12 or more strikeouts and allow two or fewer hits versus the Red Sox at either iteration of Yankee Stadium. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's also the first Yankees pitcher to have 10 or more strikeouts in a start against Boston, and allow no runs.

"It's a big deal because it's against Boston -- especially being here -- we want to beat Boston every time," said Paxton, who also had a 10-strikeout game against the Red Sox while pitching for Seattle two seasons ago. "It was a big start for me, just to get my feet under me and show myself that I can be here and do this."

As Paxton prepared for this start, he watched video of his past outings against the Red Sox that came while he pitched for the Mariners.

Something that stood out in particular Sunday while he was at home watching his July 2017 and June 2018 starts against Boston was the aggressiveness with which he pitched with. He was really driving his body toward home plate, generating momentum that he wished to replicate.

Paxton had already had one conversation with his psychologist about his mindset entering this start, but after seeing his old successful self, he wanted to reinforce what he saw. So Tuesday, hours before he took the mound, he had one final talk to be ready for the raucous environment that comes with Sox-Yankees in the Bronx.

The psychologist's charge?

"Just to embrace it," Paxton relayed. "Go after it and be aggressive and enjoy the intensity of it."

Apparently Paxton listened.

CONCORD, N.C. — Early this year, we were fortunate to visit a pair of race tracks we’d never been to.

The two tracks are drastically different. One is a massive facility, so big you’d never be able to cover it on foot in a single day. The other is a small, more personal track that carries with it a certain charm larger venues lack.

In early February, we traveled down the East Coast to Daytona Beach, Fla., to visit Daytona Int’l Speedway. Despite having been a member of the motorsports press for roughly 10 years, our schedule had never allowed for a trip to Daytona until this year.

Our first view of the track came from the airplane as it landed in Daytona Beach. We knew the track was huge — it is a 2.5-mile superspeedway after all — but seeing it in person put it in a different perspective.

Once we finally got inside, the scope of the facility was immediately clear. There was not a single position from the infield where we could see the entire track. In fact, in most instances we could only see a small portion of the track.

The Los Angeles Kings have agreed to terms with Todd McLellan on a multiyear contract to be the team's new coach, it was announced Tuesday.

He replaces Willie Desjardins, who served as the interim coach last season and was not retained.

McLellan will receive a five-year contract worth around $5 million annually, the Athletic reported.

McLellan was fired as coach of the Edmonton Oilers in November. He had been behind the bench in Edmonton since the 2015-16 season after spending seven seasons as the San Jose Sharks' coach.

He has a career record of 434-282-90 in 806 regular-season games and has reached the playoffs in seven of his 10 full seasons as an NHL head coach.

Desjardins, 62, was named the Kings' interim coach in November after John Stevens was fired following the team's 4-8-1 start. The Kings went 27-34-8 the rest of the season with Desjardins as coach and finished last in the Western Conference.

Lionel Messi scored twice and David De Gea was left with egg on his face as Barcelona cruised past Manchester United with a 3-0 win at Camp Nou.

It meant a 4-0 aggregate win for the La Liga side, who barely needed to break sweat to reach the Champions League semifinals.

United started the game in excellent fashion as Marcus Rashford clipped the top of the bar after little more than 30 seconds. The England international was played in by Paul Pogba and while his toe-poked effort beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen it was lifted just too high.

All United's hard work looked set to be undone in the 11th minute when referee Felix Brych awarded Barca a penalty following a foul by Fred on Ivan Rakitic -- only for the official to reverse his decision after advice from the video assistant referee.

But Barca did find the opening goal five minutes later when poor defending by first Ashley Young and then Fred gave Messi far too much space outside the area, and the Argentine superbly curled an effort past De Gea from the edge of the box.

Moments later, Barca doubled their advantage and it was down to yet more errors. Fred again was caught in possession and the ball fell to Messi, who could only produce a weak effort -- but it was enough to squirm under the body of an embarrassed De Gea.

That ended the game as a contest and allowed Barca to play in second gear.

Messi then saw a snap shot fly over the bar, before Rakitic was left unmarked on a free kick but this time De Gea held onto his header.

Luis Suarez almost got hisgot first Champions League goal of the season on the stroke of half-time, but somehow smashed his shot into the face of De Gea from close range after Rakitic had picked the striker out with a ball across the six-yard box.

Just after the hour, former Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho got in on the act, beautifully beating De Gea from distance after being set up by Jordi Alba.

Shortly afterwards Messi almost completed his hat trick with an audacious overhead kick.

Jesse Lingard produced a rare attacking moment for the visitors as he fired well over with 11 minutes left on the clock, and in stoppage time Ter Stegen made a superb stop from substitute Alexis Sanchez, but there was to be no consolation for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Lionel Messi scored twice in four first-half minutes as Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-0 at Camp Nou to make the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday. Philippe Coutinho added a stunning third in the second half as Barca eased past the Premier League side 4-0 on aggregate to keep their treble dream alive.

United started well, hitting the bar inside a minute through Marcus Rashford, but they were soon put to the sword by Messi. The Argentine scored a brilliant opener form the edge of the box in the 16th minute and added his second four minutes later thanks to a huge mistake by David de Gea.

A fine De Gea save kept out Sergi Roberto in first-half stoppage time before former Liverpool playmaker Coutinho wrapped up the scoring after the break when he found the top corner from 25 yards.

Positives

For the first time since they won the competition in 2015, Barcelona are back in the final four. They've been knocked out in the quarterfinals in each of the last three seasons and there was a fear that they would tumble at this stage again. With Messi on their side, though, that was not likely to happen. The question now is a simple one: can Messi push them over the line in the Champions League and help Ernesto Valverde's side win a third treble in what will surely be remembered as "The Messi era?"

It was also an encouraging night for Coutinho. He will hope his goal will be a turning point for his Barca career. It certainly brought some frustration to the surface as he celebrated in front of the home fans -- who have been critical this season -- by cupping his hand to his ear.

Negatives

If Liverpool get over the line against Porto on Wednesday, they will take encouragement from United's quick start at Camp Nou. After 15 minutes, the scoreboard inside the ground revealed that the visitors had managed four attempts on target -- Barça had had none. Rashford hit the woodwork and then forced Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a save. United didn't take chances but they exploited Barca's weaknesses. Liverpool would hope for more efficiency from Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino should they advance and face Barca in the semifinals.

Manager rating out of 10

7 -- Valverde deserves huge credit for how he managed this tie. Barca progressed without really having to step into second gear and without conceding a goal. If he leads the Catalans to a treble, maybe he will finally get some credit.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Marc-Andre ter Stegen, 6 -- The German didn't have much to do on his 50th Champions League appearance after United's early pressure. Made a couple of routine saves from speculative efforts from Rashford and Paul Pogba and a fine late parry to deny Alexis Sanchez' near-post header.

DF Sergi Roberto, 6 -- Replaced Nelson Semedo in the only change to the side that won at Old Trafford last week. Should have scored, but fired at De Gea from point-blank range in first-half stoppage time.

DF Gerard Pique, 7 -- Looked like he could struggle against Rashford's pace early on but looked in complete control once Barca took the lead.

DF Clement Lenglet, 7 -- Another assured performance against United, whom he knocked out last season with Sevilla. It's looking tough for Samuel Umtiti to win his place back in the side.

DF Jordi Alba, 7 -- Always a threat on the left after a below-par performance in the first leg. Messi regularly found his runs to create problems for stand-in right-back, Victor Lindelof.

MF Sergio Busquets, 6 -- Overrun in the first 10 minutes but never really under much pressure defensively once Messi had weaved his magic.

MF Ivan Rakitic, 8 -- Another brilliant performance from the underrated midfielder. Won a penalty early on, only to have it overturned by VAR, before hunting down Ashley Young to help set up the opening goal.

MF Arthur Melo, 7 -- Key in possession as Barca took the sting out of United's quick start by keeping the ball and slowing things down. More adventurous with his passes, too, than in recent weeks.

FW Lionel Messi, 9 -- What more can be said? Once again, the difference on the night. He now has four goals in six against United and 45 in all competitions this season. Was mesmeric on all night on the ball. Phil Jones, in particular, was twisted, turned and nutmegged into a daze.

FW Luis Suarez, 6 -- Worked hard and was Barca's reference point in attack. Wasn't able to execute everything he tried, although he did almost add a late fourth with a lofted effort.

FW Philippe Coutinho, 8 -- Even before his goal, there were signs he was playing with confidence. A little flick here and an in-and-out run there had Camp Nou chanting his name in the second half. His goal was fantastic, too.

Substitutes

DF Nelson Semedo, 6 -- Came on for Sergi Roberto for the final 20 minutes.

MF Arturo Vidal, NR -- Introduced for Arthur late on to add some fresh legs in the middle as Barca saw the game out.

FW Ousmane Dembele, NR -- There was a debate about whether he would start or not before the match. In the end he was only needed for the final minutes as he continues his comeback from a hamstring injury.