BOSTON -- For all of the Red Sox rotation's ups and downs with injuries and inconsistencies in 2026, Connelly Early had been a bright spot.
Saturday at Fenway Park marked his first obstacle of the year in a 6-3 loss to the Astros.
Early entered his seventh start of the season with a 2.84 ERA. He brought momentum after a season-best 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts during Boston's 5-3 win over the Orioles on April 26.
In the middle game of the three-game set, the Astros wore down another Boston starter, forcing nearly 30 pitches in the first inning for the second straight day. Houston scored four batters into the game when Carlos Correa came around on Christian Walker’s RBI single.
The Astros opened it up in the fourth inning with a three-run, Green Monster-bound home run for Brice Matthews, followed by an RBI single for Correa.
Early admittedly didn’t have his best stuff and allowed more than three earned runs for the first time in his MLB career. He departed after four innings, striking out three while allowing five earned runs on six hits and three walks.
“I just didn't really feel like myself,” Early said. “I didn't have my best stuff today, so definitely a grind of a day.”
There shouldn’t be much to worry about for his next turn in the rotation. His adaptability stood out to Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy among the intriguing traits of the young lefty.
“The adjustments from the one outing to the next was really rapid,” Tracy said, reflecting on Early’s Triple-A tenure he managed. “He figured out pretty quickly what was going on and adjusted like that. And then you kept watching.
“You see the pitchability, the ability to land all of his arsenal in the zone, the velocity of the climb. You're like, ‘This guy's got a chance to be a pretty good Major League pitcher.’ And then as you watch him here and he's navigating all the extra information we have, and he does it so seamlessly, he's pretty good. He's pretty dialed into it.”
While Early struggled, the Astros had to beat him without production from their best hitter. Yordan Alvarez went 0-for-4 and is 0-for-9 to start the series. Alvarez’s career demolition of the Red Sox is well-documented. For reference -- prior to this weekend, Alvarez recorded a hit in 13 of 15 career games at Fenway (including postseason), going 27-for-56 (.482 AVG).
Boston’s offense also failed to capitalize on early traffic. Willson Contreras grounded into a double play to end the third inning with the bases loaded and the Red Sox did not score after Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu walked to start the fourth inning. Trevor Story also popped out with the bases loaded to end the fifth.
The Red Sox left 10 men on base after 19 runners were stranded in Wednesday’s series finale against the Blue Jays.
“I think we had a lot of opportunities and we didn't take advantage of that,” Abreu said. “I think we can be more consistent with our approach and try to drive the runs.”
Boston suffered from a mix of missed opportunities and Houston taking several hits away with superb, athletic defensive plays in the later innings. Those swings still encouraged what the Red Sox can do in the coming days at the plate.
“I think if you're looking at positives, we created a ton of traffic, which is what we've talked about here,” Tracy said. “We want to give ourselves chances, right? We gave ourselves a lot of chances.”