Despite Red Sox’ Connelly Early getting ‘big outs’ on Tuesday night, Alex Cora defends his decision to pull the rookie after 80 pitches

Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early showed continued progress in his second major league start, tossing 80 pitches in Boston’s 2-1 loss to the Athletics on Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old worked through traffic, keeping the Sox within striking distance, mixing in his fastball and breaking ball effectively, while continuing to flash poise for a young starter.

Early’s workload reflected the club’s growing trust in him, just one outing removed from his big league debut in Sacramento, where he struck out 11 batters.

The southpaw looked locked in, and after just 5 1/3 innings, he allowed one earned run on five hits while recording seven strikeouts. Prior to the game, Alex Cora told reporters that his rookie pitchers, including Early, were unrestricted in their workloads and able to throw 90-95 pitches in an outing.

A mere hours later, Cora flipped the script and pulled his starter after just 80 pitches in favor of reliever Greg Weissert in a one-run game. Despite Early having some gas left in the tank, Cora pulled him from the game, a decision that backfired when Weissert left a pitch over the heart of the plate, allowing the Athletics to capitalize.

“It’s about the guy that is hitting,” said Cora, acknowledging that pulling Early was about the matchup and not his pitch count. “The game will dictate that we do. That’s a good big leaguer that hits lefties really well. The other guys have to do their job.”

Cora elected not to have Early face Brent Rooker, who was 1-for-2 up to that point in the game. Weissert struck out the slugger but coughed up an RBI double that tattooed the top of the Green Monster to Tyler Soderstrom. Two batters later, following a walk to Carlos Cortes, Brett Harris singled home Soderstrom for the Athletics’ second run of the game.

“We lose that game because I can’t do my job,” Weissert said. “It’s so important to get it to those guys (Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman). We’re fighting all game. Early pitches an unbelievable game, and I go in there and do that (expletive). It sucks.”

Weissert wasn’t sharp in the outing, erasing Early’s second straight gem against the Athletics.

“3-2 pitch right down the middle,” said Cora. “He was trying to go up in the zone and didn’t get it there.

“That was his pocket right there. The kid did an amazing job. They had some tough righties coming up, and we just have to close the deal.”

The first run that came home to score was charged to Early, the first run he’s allowed in his young big league career. He’s allowed just one earned run in 10 1/3 innings and has struck out 18 batters and walked just one in those two starts.

The only other Red Sox pitcher with 18 or more K's in his first two MLB outings was Don Aase in 1977.

“What I want to get out of the rest of the season is to go out there and give the offense an opportunity to win every single time,” said Early. “We need to win as many games as possible.”

Cora was excited about Early’s second start despite the loss in the standings.

“Really good,” said Cora. “Moved the ball around, threw strikes. He’s under control in every situation. Good job with the baserunners. We talked 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.”

Early also acknowledged that his pitch count wasn’t a factor in the club’s decision to remove him from the game and that they preferred he not face Rooker for the third time.

“I was pulled right before Rooker came up,” said Early. “Weissert’s a really good matchup against him, so that’s why we went with that. I struggled a little bit against him the first time, and he saw me pretty well. I think that’s why we went with it.”

Of the five hits that Early allowed on Tuesday, each was a single, and two of those never left the infield. The Sox had Early focus on a different pitching attack, throwing more sinkers in the outing to keep the Athletics off balance and not expect the same arsenal they saw a week prior.

“I’m trying to go out there and attack guys,” Early said, “and let the chips fall where they are. Sometimes, you get a swing and miss, sometimes, you don’t. I’m not really looking at the strikeouts too much, more focused on getting guys out.”

Regardless of the Red Sox's public stance, I firmly believe that Boston has placed restrictions on their rookies regarding pitch count and innings. This year, Early has amassed 105 1/3 innings across three levels, surpassing his career high of 103 frames from the previous season.

“They’re a part of what we’re doing here,” said pitching coach Andrew Bailey. “We’ve got to find innings and starts, whatever that is, with Tolle, Harry (Kyle Harrison), Early, and all the guys down there, especially the young bucks.

“We’ll see where they’ll fit in the mix and where they can take down innings for us and be mindful of everybody’s workload while also knowing we’ve got to win every day."

Cora stated on WEEI’s afternoon show that Early will receive another start and pitch on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays.