Lifeless Red Sox offense squanders Connelly Early’s Fenway Park debut

The Athletics were ill-prepared to meet Connelly Early last week Over five shutout innings in his major league debut the -year-old left-hander fanned of their batters tying the Red Sox record for strikeouts by a debuting pitcher set by Don Aase on July The A s had the unfortunate distinction of being the opposition for Early s Fenway Park debut Tuesday night too Despite the previous week s experience they barely fared better in the rematch Fortunately for them the Red Sox fared worse They lost - in a battle in which they collected eight hits five walks and only struck out four times because they went for with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base Over innings Early yielded one earned run on five hits struck out seven and issued zero walks He joined Aase as the only two pitchers in franchise history to record at least strikeouts over their first two career games According to Elias Sports Bureau Early is the first pitcher in MLB history to pitch at least innings with strikeouts no more than one run and one walk allowed over his first two career games since when the mound was set to its current distance to home plate When the A s in the end scored to tie the championship - in the top of the sixth the run was charged to Early but the implosion belonged to Greg Weissert After recording the second out of the inning the right-hander was unable to finish the frame A missed call on his second pitch to pinch-hitter Tyler Soderstrom was a strike on the inside corner but was ruled a ball Thus instead of a strikeout-looking pitch No was completely a called second strike Soderstrom doubled on pitch No and Jacob Wilson scampered home When Weissert followed by walking pinch-hitter Carlos Cortes and third baseman Brett Harris clubbed a go-ahead RBI single manager Alex Cora rushed out to stem the bleeding with virtually zero offensive production from his lineup waiting for Weissert was a luxury the Red Sox could not afford As he s done all season left-hander Justin Wilson hastily cleaned up a mess of someone else s making Jeffrey Springs fared better than he had against the Boston bats on Sept After getting pummeled for five earned runs in five innings on Sept Springs yielded only one unearned run the second time around That run the product of a Carlos Narv ez single and error by center fielder Lawrence Butler was all the Boston bats managed The Red Sox have scored just runs over their last four games More than half of them came in a six-run first inning on Sunday their only win in that span Boston had ample scoring opportunities particularly early in Tuesday s loss They stranded a pair in the first then turned bases-loaded no outs to three outs in the blink of an eye in the second inning They scored their unearned run in the third then stranded one in the fourth and two in the fifth With the lead gone after that the bats grew even quieter The Red Sox went in order in the sixth and wasted Trevor Story s two-out single in the seventh and Nick Sogard s two-out walk in the eighth Ceddanne Rafaela s one-out single in the ninth became the first part of a game-losing double play Romy Gonzalez s second of the night for Cheers and peals of incredulous laughter erupted around the ballpark when the replay review indicated Trevor Story s hand touching the base first The A s had challenged a moment that had been building for weeks as the veteran shortstop broke the franchise mark for a perfect stolen-base record and raced toward a feat rare even for baseball s most of fleet-footed He d already improved to for with a single and steal in the first inning After singling in the fifth Story again broke for second His hand protectively ensconced in a sliding mitt touched the bag before the tag The A s lost the challenge but Boston lost the championship Facts and figures The Red Sox are - They are - since Roman Anthony s injury