Lifeless Red Sox offense squanders Connelly Early’s Fenway Park debut

The Athletics were ill-prepared to meet Connelly Early last week. Over five shutout innings in his major league debut, the 23-year-old left-hander fanned 11 of their batters, tying the Red Sox record for strikeouts by a debuting pitcher, set by Don Aase on July 26, 1977. The A’s had the unfortunate distinction of being the opposition for Early’s Fenway Park debut Tuesday night, too. Despite the previous week’s experience, they barely fared better in the rematch. Fortunately for them, the Red Sox fared worse. They lost 2-1 in a game in which they collected eight hits, five walks, and only struck out four times, because they went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Over 5.1 innings, Early yielded one earned run on five hits, struck out seven, and issued zero walks. He joined Aase as the only two pitchers in franchise history to record at least 18 strikeouts over their first two career games. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Early is the first pitcher in MLB history to pitch at least 10.1 innings with 18 strikeouts, no more than one run and one walk allowed over his first two career games since 1893, when the mound was set to its current distance to home plate. When the A’s finally scored to tie the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth, the run was charged to Early, but the implosion belonged to Greg Weissert. After recording the second out of the inning, the right-hander was unable to finish the frame. A missed call on his second pitch to pinch-hitter Tyler Soderstrom was a strike on the inside corner, but was ruled a ball. Thus, instead of a strikeout-looking, pitch No. 5 was simply a called second strike. Soderstrom doubled on pitch No. 6, and Jacob Wilson scampered home. When Weissert followed by walking pinch-hitter Carlos Cortes, and third baseman Brett Harris clubbed a go-ahead RBI single, manager Alex Cora rushed out to stem the bleeding; with virtually zero offensive production from his lineup, waiting for Weissert was a luxury the Red Sox could not afford. As he’s done all season, left-hander Justin Wilson quickly cleaned up a mess of someone else’s making. Jeffrey Springs fared better than he had against the Boston bats on Sept. 9. After getting pummeled for five earned runs in five innings on Sept. 9, Springs yielded only one unearned run the second time around. That run, the product of a Carlos Narváez single and error by center fielder Lawrence Butler, was all the Boston bats managed. The Red Sox have scored just 11 runs over their last four games. More than half of them came in a six-run first inning on Sunday, their only win in that span. Boston had ample scoring opportunities, particularly early in Tuesday’s loss. They stranded a pair in the first, then turned bases-loaded, no outs to three outs in the blink of an eye in the second inning. They scored their unearned run in the third, then stranded one in the fourth and two in the fifth. With the lead gone after that, the bats grew even quieter. The Red Sox went in order in the sixth, and wasted Trevor Story’s two-out single in the seventh and Nick Sogard’s two-out walk in the eighth. Ceddanne Rafaela’s one-out single in the ninth became the first part of a game-losing double play, Romy Gonzalez’s second of the night. 30 for 30 Cheers – and peals of incredulous laughter – erupted around the ballpark when the replay review showed Trevor Story’s hand touching the base first. The A’s had challenged a moment that had been building for weeks, as the veteran shortstop broke the franchise mark for a perfect stolen-base record and raced toward a feat rare even for baseball’s most fleet-footed. He’d already improved to 29 for 29 with a single and steal in the first inning. After singling in the fifth, Story again broke for second. His hand, protectively ensconced in a sliding mitt, touched the bag before the tag. The A’s lost the challenge, but Boston lost the game. Facts and figures The Red Sox are 82-69. They are 4-7 since Roman Anthony’s injury.