Connelly Early shines, but Red Sox offense vanishes in 2-1 series opening loss to Athletics

On a cooler September night in front of 35,886 at Fenway Park, the Red Sox once again found themselves trapped in the cruelest kind of loss — the one that hangs on a single swing, a single mistake, a single missed chance.

Boston dropped a winnable game to the lowly Athletics, 2-1, on Tuesday, squandering an early lead and stranding opportunity after opportunity as their playoff push hit another snag.

The Sox’ offense was held in check by the A’s, collecting eight hits and five walks while striking out four times, and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.

“We struggled today,” Alex Cora said of his anemic offense.

Rookie Connelly Early made his second big league start, pitching 5 1/3 innings and allowing one earned run on five hits while recording seven strikeouts. The left-hander has struck out 18 batters over two starts in the majors since he was promoted from Triple-A Worcester. 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.

“Really good,” Cora said of Early following his second big league start. “Moved the ball around, threw strikes, he’s under control in every situation, good job with the base runners. We talk about facing the same lineup back-to-back; that’s a good lineup, and he was able to keep them off-balance, get some strikeouts, and get some big outs for us.”

When Early was removed from the game, he received a standing ovation from the packed house at Fenway Park.

“The amount of fans that we have, especially coming from not the biggest park, to being here, is pretty crazy, and it’s a blessing to be out there in front of all those people,” said Early. “It was amazing. Getting that standing ovation is something I want to get every single time when I go out there. Just feeling the city of Boston standing up and cheering me on is amazing.”

The Red Sox offense struck first in the third inning, scratching across a run almost by accident. With two outs, Carlos Narváez lined a double into the corner, and Rob Refsnyder came all the way around to score when Oakland center fielder Lawrence Butler misplayed the bounce and was charged with an error. It was the kind of gift the Sox seemed destined to build on.

That was all the offense was able to muster off Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs, who tossed four innings, allowing the one unearned run off five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

The Sox’ fragile 1-0 lead evaporated in the sixth inning when Jacob Wilson sparked the A’s with a single before Tyler Soderstrom roped a run-scoring double to left field to tie the game off Greg Weissert. Moments later, Brett Harris slipped a clean RBI single through the infield, giving Oakland a 2-1 lead that would hold the rest of the way.

Weissert has been struggling in the second half and is being forced to pitch in high-leverage spots due to Boston’s lack of quality relievers to pitch in key moments of the game. A quick glance at his ERA on the season, the righty owns a 3.06 ERA in 68 games and theoretically has had a great season. He’s pitched to a 4.15 ERA over his last six games and has allowed five hits and two earned runs in that span.

Justin Wilson came in and cleaned up Weissert’s mess and limited the damage.

Once A’s manager Mark Kotsay dipped into his bullpen, Boston seemingly fell asleep at the wheel. Mitch Spence (3-5) tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while working around two walks with one strikeout in relief of Springs. Hogan Harris locked down his third save of the season, tossing a scoreless 1 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit.

Boston had its chances in the game but failed to execute. Trevor Story (3-for-4) swiped his 30th base of the year after a successful replay challenge, but the rally fizzled. For Story, he is 30-for-30 this season in stolen base attempts, and it’s the fourth time in baseball, since the Expansion Era began in 1961, that a player has started with 30 straight successful steal attempts. He shares that record with Trea Turner (2023), Carl Crawford (2009), and Vince Coleman (1989).

A boneheaded base-running blunder by Nick Sogard did not help the team's situation in the eighth inning. After working a two-out walk against Spence, Sogard was picked off trying to steal second base with Jarren Duran at the plate with two strikes.

“I think when we move the line, we grind at-bats; it’s not quick outs,” Cora said of his offense. “It felt like at one point it was one pitch, one out, and then you put everybody else in a tough spot… We just got to make sure we slow it down, don’t get caught up on the score, and just do your part. I think at the end of the day the job is to get on base. We’ve been doing a better job the last three games, but with men in scoring position, then we have to cash in.”

The Red Sox will look to get on track Wednesday night and turn to right-hander Lucas Giolito (10-4, 3.31 ERA) in the second game of the series. The A’s will counter with Mason Barnett (1-1, 8.53 ERA), who pitched the finale last Thursday. The first pitch is at 6:45 p.m. ET.