NEW YORK — For three innings in the decisive Game 3 of this American League Wild Card Series against the Yankees, Connelly Early exuded calm in his fifth Major League start, matching zeros with fellow rookie, Yankees righty Cam Schlittler.
But in the fourth inning, the momentum changed and never turned back, beginning with a fly ball to right-center that fell between Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu for a double by Cody Bellinger. Rafaela, who seemed to take a circuitous route, had it tick off his glove.
That was the start of a four-run inning in which Early gave up three more hits, one walk and another misplay in the field — an error by Nathaniel Lowe. Boston was eliminated from the postseason with a 4-0 loss at Yankee Stadium. As it turns out, that inning, along with Schlittler’s utter dominance, was the ballgame.
Given that center fielder Rafaela and right fielder Abreu are two of the best defenders in the Majors at their respective positions, it was a surprising misplay.
Per Statcast, Rafaela had a 90 percent catch probability. Abreu had an 85 percent chance of reeling it in.
But perhaps those numbers don’t account for the challenge of two players — both in their second full seasons — participating in the postseason for the first time, and trying to make a play in a venue that reached ear-splitting decibel levels.
“That was a tough play,” Abreu said. “It was in between us. We were playing very deep, so we couldn’t get there.”
“It’s hard to say, because it was too loud so we couldn’t hear it,” Abreu said.
Asked specifically if he called it, Abreu said, “Not really.”
“Right there, I just gave my all to catch it,” he said. “I saw Willy maybe didn’t have a chance. I just saw he wasn’t going to be able to get to it and I dove to catch it.”
As the inning built, the question was this: How swiftly would manager Alex Cora go to his bullpen? It turned out not nearly as swift as in Game 2, when Cora pulled Brayan Bello after just 28 pitches in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the third in an eventual 4-3 loss.
The lack of execution by two gifted outfielders threw Cora for a bit of a loop. After using six of his nine relievers in Game 2, Cora was hoping Early, ranked as Boston’s No. 6 prospect by MLB Pipeline, could at least get into the fifth.
“We didn’t play defense. The popup drops, there’s a double, and there’s a walk. They didn’t hit the ball hard, but they found holes,” Cora said. “It just happened fast. The kid did a good job. He threw the ball well and induced them to weak contact.”
Part of Cora’s thinking is that the Yankees still had a pocket of lefties due to come up shortly after Amed Rosario’s RBI single broke a scoreless tie.
Other than Rosario’s single, the only other hard-hit ball of the inning off Early was a single by Jazz Chisholm Jr. that loaded the bases with one out.
The final crushing blow of the inning was Lowe trying to backhand a grounder off the bat of Austin Wells and having it tick off his glove as two runs scored.
“I thought I could get to the short hop and I didn’t,” Lowe said. “The in-between hop ate me up. Obviously, they got runs cashed in and we couldn’t make up for it.”
After inducing Trent Grisham’s flyout to right for the second out in the fourth, Early was taken out and Cora went to righty Justin Slaten to face Yankees captain Aaron Judge.
Considering Early didn’t make his MLB debut until Sept. 9, his composure on the hill at Yankee Stadium was impressive, and something he can build on going forward. The 23-year-old allowed six hits in his 3 2/3 innings, along with three runs (just one earned) and one walk to go with six strikeouts.
Lucas Giolito, Boston’s No. 3 starter for most of the season, would have taken the ball in this game if not for an irritated right flexor injury that knocked him out of the postseason. That put the spotlight on Early, who had a 2.33 ERA in four September starts.
“I think just getting this under my belt is huge,” Early said. “Obviously, the Red Sox trusting me to go out there with the ball in a winner-take-all game means a ton to me.”
