Watch: Pomeranz, Farrell argue in dugout after lefty is yanked

Drew Pomeranz's first full season with the Boston Red Sox is off to a rocky start, and things took another lousy turn Saturday afternoon.

After being informed that he wouldn't take the mound for the fifth inning Saturday in Oakland, with the Red Sox clinging to a one-run lead over the A's, Pomeranz - who had allowed a pair of runs and thrown 97 pitches through four shaky frames - got into a heated exchange with manager John Farrell in the dugout, an animated discussion that ended with Farrell pointing his scuffling left-hander in the direction of the clubhouse.

"He didn't want to come out of the game," Farrell told MLB.com's Alex Espinoza following his club's 8-3 loss. "It was a discussion we had and it's been settled."

Pomeranz, an All-Star last year, has yet to throw more than six innings in any of his eight starts this season, and hasn't made it past the fourth in each of his last three outings. Following Saturday's abbreviated start, Pomeranz owns a 4.97 ERA over 38 innings in 2017.

"It's frustrating," Pomeranz said. "As a starting pitcher, you want to be in there in the game long. … It's kind of happened to me a lot over the course of my career, but you just got to grind those games out."