Red Sox’ Connelly Early loses strike zone in final inning of work, pays the price
Connelly Early limited the Yankees to a single run over the first five innings. But things unraveled in the sixth and the game got away from him.
BOSTON — Just as he did in the playoffs against the same team last October , Connelly Early managed to keep his team in the game Monday night. It wasn’t his fault that, again, his team couldn’t provide much in the way of offensive backing. The rookie lefty, who took the loss in the Red Sox ’ elimination game at Yankee Stadium in the wild card round last fall, limited the Yankees to a single run over five innings.
But he lost command in the sixth, allowing two more runs, as the Yankees cruised to a 4-0 win Tuesday night. “He did good until he lost it there (in the sixth),” said Alex Cora of Early. “Command was an issue in that (last) inning.
But the outing, besides that, was a good one. Really good. (He had) a good changeup, moved the ball around again.
Got the ground ball when he needed it. We’ll just keep working with him. ” It marked the first time in nine regular season major league starts, dating back to the final month of last year, in which Early allowed more than two earned runs in a game.