A pair of solo home runs stood up as Connelly Early pitched a career-high seven shutout innings, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 2-0 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
Wilyer Abreu’s two-out blast in the third was all that Boston needed, but Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-4) added a homer of his own in the next inning for good measure.
Early (3-2) fanned eight while allowing just four hits and one walk on the way to his first scoreless start of the season. Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman followed the southpaw with scoreless innings, preserving Boston’s MLB-leading sixth shutout of the season.
Nick Fortes (2-for-3) had two of the four hits for Tampa Bay, which was blanked for the first time this season and had a seven-game win streak snapped.
After allowing just one base hit through the first two innings, Early escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam with a strikeout and a 5-4-3 double play to end the third without any damage done. Back-to-back hits by Nick Fortes and Taylor Walls had started the frame.
The Red Sox went without a hit for the first 3 2/3 innings against Jesse Scholtens (3-2) — a primary reliever who completed 4 2/3 in his second start of the season — before breaking up the shutout bid with one swing. With two outs in the third, Abreu crushed a solo job over the bullpens in right-center field.
Rafaela joined the action an inning later, giving Boston a 2-0 lead with a line-drive shot over the Green Monster in left.
Early was dominant following the Rays’ big threat, allowing only one base hit — a Fortes single with one out in the fifth — through the remainder of his outing. After Fortes’ second knock, the southpaw bounced back to strike out back-to-back batters and the side.
Though the Red Sox were unable to extend their lead and logged just two hits themselves after scoring in the fourth, Early punctuated the night with a looking strikeout of Fortes in the seventh.
With Chapman on to close, third baseman Caleb Durbin made a diving stop to help retire Junior Caminero in a 1-2-3 ninth with two punchouts. Chapman earned his eighth save.
