Red Sox’ Connelly Early shines in losing effort
The rookie lefty gave the Red Sox plenty in his season debut Sunday.
CINCINNATI — For someone who wasn’t expected to be part of the Red Sox’ starting rotation at the beginning of the year, Connelly Early’s first outing was as good as anyone could have expected. Early, originally ticketed for Worcester but inserted into the rotation when Ranger Suárez wasn’t sufficiently built up and Johan Oviedo experienced command issues, pitched into the sixth inning Sunday and was charged with just one run. He didn’t factor into the decision in a frustrating 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, but he showed he was worthy of a rotation spot .
Early blanked the Reds over the first five innings and was at 88 pitches. Under normal circumstances, that might have been enough, especially in the first week of the season. But because the Red Sox bullpen contributed almost seven innings in an extra-inning loss Saturday, Alex Cora needed to push his young lefty.
“Where we were pitching-wise, we needed that,” said Cora. “We don’t usually extend guys this early in the season. But he felt strong.
He was strong all spring. I think (pitching coach Andrew Bailey) and the staff did an amazing job keeping him fresh. He did enough to give us a chance to win.