Red Sox offense freezes in 3-2 loss to Padres at chilly Fenway Park

It was a chilly Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park, and the frigid temperatures didn’t do Connelly Early or the Red Sox offense any favors.

But a fortunate break in the bottom of the eighth gave Boston life, as the Sox rallied to tie the game at 2-2 after trailing 2-1.

Ceddanne Rafaela sparked the inning by beating out a slow roller to short. Roman Anthony followed with a sharp single to right, putting two aboard.

With one out, Alex Cora turned to Andruw Monasterio as a pinch hitter for Jarren Duran.

Monasterio hit a grounder back to pitcher Adrián Morejón, who fired to second baseman Jake Cronenworth in an attempt to start an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play. But the ball popped out of Cronenworth’s glove. He recovered to tag second for the out, but his throw to first was too late, allowing Rafaela to score from third.

With the game tied in the ninth, Cora forfeited the DH spot and moved Anthony to left field for a stronger defensive alignment. Cora did have the option of moving Masataka Yoshida to left field, but went in another direction. 

Anthony’s defense had already been a pregame talking point, as Cora was asked about his decision to keep the same lineup from Friday while flipping Duran to left field and using Anthony as the designated hitter.

“There’s a few things we have to be better (with) defensively,” Cora said, “and the kid (Anthony) knows it. The other day, there was a play where (Carlos) Correa was at second and there was a base hit to left and we have to throw him out. He knows it. We have to improve. It’s not only him. It’s everybody.

“Jarren plays the wall really, really well here. We’ll play him whenever we feel like it out there. There’s stuff we have to improve as a group and that’s part of Roman’s development.”

The Red Sox turned to All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, looking to keep the game tied for their offense.

With two outs, Rafaela appeared to misread Fernando Tatis Jr.’s drive, initially breaking in before the ball sailed over his head for a 113.5 mph, 371-foot double. Tatis Jr. finished the game 1-for-5 with four strikeouts and a run scored. 

Ramón Laureano followed with a go-ahead RBI single to left, with Tatis beating Anthony’s throw home to give San Diego a 3-2 lead.

Cora noted after the game that Anthony’s throw was better than he’s seen from him this season.

“I thought that was better,” Cora said. “Yeah, much better. He had the angle, I know the ball tailed. I was just talking to Huddy (Kyle Hudson), but there was more conviction on it. That was very good.”

The Red Sox went down in order in the bottom of the ninth against All-Star closer Mason Miller, who struck out Marcelo Mayer to end the game.

“Two pitches, Tatis with two strikes hit the ball hard up the middle, and then a split that hung to Laureano,” Cora said postgame. “He’s been doing that the last few years. You tip your hat to them, and we’ve got to regroup and be ready tomorrow to win the series.”

Making his second start of the season, Early opened by retiring Tatis Jr. on a foul-tip strikeout. He then walked Laureano before striking out Miguel Andújar. As boos rained down on Manny Machado, Boston’s public enemy No. 1 drew another walk, but Early escaped the inning by getting Xander Bogaerts to fly out to shallow right, where Wilyer Abreu battled the wind to make the play.

Early ran into trouble in the second. Freddy Fermin led off with a walk, his third in just two innings, and Ty France followed with a single to move him to third. Bryce Johnson then hit a grounder to Trevor Story, allowing Fermin to score and giving San Diego a 1-0 lead.

The Red Sox tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second on Mayer’s sacrifice fly, but San Diego answered in the third. Andújar led off with a double, and Fermin followed with an RBI double of his own. By the time Early got France to ground out and end the inning, his pitch count had climbed to 80.

Early bounced back with a clean, eight-pitch fourth, but that would be the end of his outing. He finished with two runs allowed over four innings on three hits, four walks, and four strikeouts. His 39 strikeouts through six career games tie Daisuke Matsuzaka for the most in franchise history over that span.

Cora described Early’s performance as “inconsistent,” though he credited him for battling through. Early added that he needs to improve his feel for the ball in cold conditions.

“I struggled to get a grip on the ball a little bit,” Early said. “But I’ve got to do a better job figuring out how to keep my hand warm and go out there and be able to execute from pitch one.”

The Red Sox continue to struggle with runners in scoring position and squandered a two-out triple from Anthony in the fifth, as Story grounded out to end the inning.

Story is 0-for-8 out of the No. 2 spot in the series against the Padres and is hitless in his last 13 at-bats.

“It just seems like we’re one big hit away, one really good at-bat away, from blowing it open and playing with some freedom,” Story said. “Right now, we’ve got to think small and let the big things happen.”

Early was followed by fellow rookie Ryan Watson, who tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Danny Coulombe retired both batters he faced, while Justin Slaten and Zack Kelly each added scoreless frames.

Padres starter Randy Vásquez was sharp in his outing, working six innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with one walk, three strikeouts, and 14 whiffs.

Cora added that the Red Sox need to find ways to get on base more consistently.

“The strikeout rate is up, the walk rate is down, and we’re not hitting the ball out of the ballpark,” Cora said. “Usually you strike out, you walk, you hit homers, but if you’re not getting on base via the walk, then you have to slug. Right now, we’re not doing that.”

The Red Sox will look to salvage the series in Sunday’s finale. Ranger Suárez (0-1, 8.31 ERA) is scheduled to face former Red Sox right-hander Walker Buehler (0-1, 6.75 ERA), with first pitch set for 1:35 p.m.