Red Sox 5, Orioles 3: A New Normal

Three Studs

**Connelly Early** It was the longest outing of Early’s short career at 6 2/3 innings. The only runs came via solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings. To his credit, he bounced back from the home runs and didn’t let it snowball. The swing and miss still hasn’t returned to his 2025 rates, but his four-seam fastball command was as good as it’s been this year. He earned four whiffs on 32 pitches, the second-best rate of his season for a single game. The two-strike command of his secondaries still needs to improve, but he didn’t let two-strike counts turn into base runners. His late-game fastball velocity was up as well, which is a great sign for the lefty. I would have liked to see him try to talk Tracy into giving him one more batter so he could finish the seventh, but it was a job well done regardless. **Willson Contreras** His fifth-inning home run extended the Red Sox’s lead to three. The team needs him to continue providing power to give the offense a boost. **Ceddanne Rafaela** Rafaela hit a leadoff double in the second inning and had an RBI triple in the sixth. I mentioned him getting thrown out at third base, but it was less a baserunning error and more an umpiring error. That’s not one to be up in arms about.

Three Sorta Duds

Nobody played particularly poorly. **Roman Anthony** 0-3 with a walk. First game back from injury, oh well. **Connor Wong** Also 0-3 with a walk. Pretty serviceable day from your backup catcher. **Garrett Whitlock** He gave up a run, but it should probably be unearned. It’s hard to get an error nowadays (I think it’s a conspiracy to inflate batting average), but a runner reached on a play I expect my second baseman to make. The stuff is still sharp. On to Toronto.