Red Sox rookie Connelly Early gets key start vs. Rays amid tight wild-card race

Boston Red Sox rookie Connelly Early has taken a simple approach in his young career, and it's working.

The left-hander is set to make his third career start Sunday night for the Red Sox in their series finale against the host Tampa Bay Rays.

"I'm trying to go out there and attack guys and let the chips fall where they are," Early told Boston.com of his 10 1/3 innings over his first two starts. "Sometimes, you get swing and miss, sometimes you don't. I'm not really looking at the strikeouts too much; more focused on getting guys out."

Over those two starts for the Red Sox (85-70), both against the Athletics, Early (1-0, 0.87 ERA) has turned in impressive performances.

The 2023 fifth-round draft pick has allowed five hits in each start and just one total run.

By striking out 18, giving up just the lone run and walking only one, Early put himself in the record books by becoming the first pitcher since 1893 to post those numbers in his first two career starts, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Early also is only the 20th major league pitcher to total 18 or more strikeouts in his first two starts, something Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes did last season.

Early's 18 Ks matched a Boston record for a pitcher's first two starts, tying Don Aase's accomplishment in 1977.

The Red Sox have taken the first two games of the series with 11-7 and 6-3 wins and will look for a sweep on Sunday. They have a one-game lead over the red-hot Cleveland Guardians and the Houston Astros for the second American League wild card, setting off a frantic final week to the season.

On Saturday, the Rays (75-80) rallied to force a 3-3 tie, but the Red Sox scored three times in the ninth off reliever Jesse Scholtens to gain a crucial win.

Scholtens was called up from the Triple-A Durham Bulls to make the start -- his MLB season debut -- but the righty allowed three runs (one earned) and five hits in three innings. Third baseman Junior Caminero's second fielding error of the game to open the ninth started the game-winning rally.

The Rays' final weekend of playing at the New York Yankees' spring training facility in Tampa while the Tropicana Dome undergoes renovation will be remembered for manager Kevin Cash's club coming up short of the postseason for the second straight year.

Tampa Bay reached the postseason each year from 2019-23.

"You feel frustrated in that (it's) back-to-back years of failing, essentially," Cash said. "We come out of spring with the expectation that we're going to find a way to play postseason baseball, and we just have not played good enough to do that."

Right-hander Joe Boyle (1-3, 4.64 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Rays on Sunday. He is coming off an impressive outing on Monday in which he held the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays to three hits over six shutout innings. He also didn't walk a batter and struck out five but took a no-decision in a 2-1 loss.

Over one start and one relief appearance against Boston, Boyle is 0-1 with a 12.15 ERA in 6 2/3 innings.

--Field Level Media