On April 15, Connelly Early stopped another disastrous Boston Red Sox skid in its tracks. Boston's series against the Minnesota Twins began with an uncharacteristically ugly outing from Garrett Crochet and a rough showing from Sonny Gray, but Early saved his team from a losing road trip.
The young lefty allowed one run on just two hits over six innings at Target Field in his longest outing of the season so far and the longest of his young major league career. He fanned five batters, walked two and hit one. Early's electric outing helped the Red Sox avoid their second sweep of the season, the first came against the Houston Astros.
The only damage done against Early was a solo home run off the bat of Austin Martin. It's the first home run Early has allowed in the big leagues — he'd pitched over 30 innings across parts of two seasons and faced 116 batters before letting up a long ball.
After such an impressive, two-hit performance, it's hard to believe Early's spot in the rotation was in question about six weeks ago. It took the 24-year-old some time to get comfortable enough to throw the longest outing of his career so far, but in true ace fashion, he stepped up in the biggest possible way when his team needed him most.
Connelly Early has definitely earned his Red Sox rotation spot after two-hit outing against Twins
Early earned his Opening Day roster spot after an incredible spring training performance. He allowed three runs on 11 hits with 16 strikeouts and five walks over 17 innings of work in the Grapefruit League. Of course, Boston also considered his body of work after his debut last season, when he posted a 2.33 ERA with 29 strikeouts over 19.1 innings to earn a Wild Card start against the New York Yankees.
Even if Early didn't win the starting rotation job out of spring training, he probably would've ended up in the big leagues quickly anyway. In the final days of camp, the final starting rotation spot would either go to him or Johan Oviedo. Many local reporters predicted the job would go to Oviedo after his spring improvements and due to his status as a trade acquisition, but Early asserted himself in the race. Oviedo fell injured after his first appearance out of the bullpen so Early would have been called up quickly had he been sent to the minor leagues, but the Red Sox (rightly) couldn't deny him the Opening Day roster spot.
In his best outing since his scoreless, 11-strikeout MLB debut in September, Early proved again that he earned his spot in the rotation to start the 2026 season. Red Sox pitchers have struggled to go deep into games, Early included, in the early weeks of the campaign, but he lifted his team up after two demoralizing losses, and the offense responded with nine runs.
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