Connelly Early struck out 11 to match the franchise record for a pitcher in his major league debut, tossing five shutout innings as the Boston Red Sox notched a 6-0 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday in West Sacramento, Calif.
The 23-year-old left-hander, promoted from Triple-A Worcester earlier in the day, allowed five hits and one walk. Early (1-0) matched the team strikeout record set by Don Aase in his first start for Boston on July 26, 1977.
Rob Refsnyder had a three-run homer among two hits and Romy Gonzalez added a homer, a double and two RBIs as the Red Sox recorded their third straight victory.
Boston (81-65) is in a virtual tie for second place with the New York Yankees (80-64) in the American League, three games behind the Toronto Blue Jays (83-61). The Red Sox and Yankees also share the top two AL wild-card positions.
Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 12 games before leaving after the top of the second inning due to left knee soreness. All 18 of his hits during the hitting streak were singles prior to the extra-base hits on Tuesday. He is batting .455 (20-for-44) during the streak.
Early was promoted when right-hander Dustin May (elbow) was placed on the 15-day injured list earlier Tuesday. Four Boston relievers completed a 10-hit shutout.
Jacob Wilson had three hits and Zach Gelof and Shea Langeliers had two apiece for the Athletics (66-80), who have been blanked in each of the first two games of this series and have dropped eight of their past 11 games.
A’s starter Jeffrey Springs (10-11) served up two first-inning homers and wound up yielding five runs and eight hits over five-plus innings. He struck out six and walked none.
Boston led 4-0 just four hitters into the game.
Gonzalez led off the game by ripping a 2-0 slider from Springs 426 feet over the wall in left-center.
Alex Bregman and Trevor Story followed with singles before Refsnyder jumped on a 1-2 fastball and sent it 463 feet to left-center for a three-run blast.
The Red Sox tacked on one run in the second as Nick Sogard doubled and Gonzalez laced a one-out double to make it 5-0.
Early retired the first eight batters he faced and struck out six over the first three innings. He then raised his strikeout count to nine while working out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.
Nick Kurtz had a leadoff single for the A’s before Early fanned Colby Thomas. Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom followed with singles before Early struck out Darrel Hernaiz and Lawrence Butler to end the frame.
Masataka Yoshida’s infield out in the eighth plated the final Boston run.
