Connelly Early is scheduled to make his first career appearance against the Rangers on Sunday, with the Red Sox trying to turn a solid weekend into a rare home series sweep. Boston enters the game after back-to-back wins and a chance to finish off the Rangers at home for only the third time in a home series all season.
The assignment puts Early in the center of a game Boston needs badly. The Red Sox are 2-8-1 in home series this season, a record that has kept the club near the bottom of the American League East, and interim manager Chad Tracy said the team has to play better at home if it wants to climb out of that hole. A sweep would not fix the season, but it would at least give Boston something it has had too little of in front of its own fans.
Saturday’s win showed why the Red Sox still believe the run is there when they get the right moments. Ceddanne Rafaela delivered a clutch two-run go-ahead single with two outs in the seventh inning, Jarren Duran added a two-run homer in the eighth, and Boston held on for a 4-2 victory. Rafaela, who ranks second on the club in batting average at.291, doubles with 14 and stolen bases with seven, has become one of the steadier bats in the lineup.
That same game also framed the stakes for Sunday from the other side. Nathan Eovaldi is scheduled to pitch for the Rangers with a 5-7 record and a 4.26 ERA, while Early is listed for the Red Sox at 5-4 with a 3.30 ERA. Eovaldi has seen plenty of Boston over the years, and those meetings matter because the Rangers need a response after scoring just four runs in the first two games of the series.
The Red Sox also got a reminder on Saturday of how quickly a game can turn on a single swing and a single pitch. Jake Burger hit his 100th career home run, and Michael Helman was hit on his right hand in the eighth inning before leaving the game. Skip Schumaker later said Helman has multiple fractures in at least one finger, if not two, and that he will be out for a bit.
For Boston, Sunday is less about style than follow-through. If Early gives the Red Sox the kind of start they need, they will leave with a sweep and a little more proof that the home problem is not permanent. If not, the numbers at home will keep hanging over them the next time they walk out for one of these chances.
