Red Sox rookie Connelly Early sets Boston franchise record not matched since Babe Ruth in 1916
These days, it feels like Babe Ruth's name has come up in a lot of MLB hitting record chases with the likes of Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber and Shohei Ohtani.
But how about turning the clocks back a bit further to Ruth's days as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox.
That's where Connelly Early takes us on Thursday.
The Red Sox rookie lefty is set to start Thursday night against the New York Yankees in the decisive third game of the AL Wild Card series between bitter rivals, a rivalry that is mostly based in the trade of Ruth and the ensuing Curse of the Bambino.
But before Ruth was traded, he was a dominant pitcher for Boston.
And in 1916, Ruth started Game 2 of the World Series at 21 years and 246 days.
No pitcher since then has started a playoff game for the Red Sox even within two years of that, until now.
On this night, Early will be 23 years and 182 days. Still older than Ruth, but younger than anyone else to start a playoff game for Boston since Ruth.
Now it's up to Red Sox and Yankees fans to decide which team gets a good omen out of this and which team gets a bad omen out of it.
Maybe Boston should see if Early can hit a home run or two, too.
In reality, it's set up to be a classic showdown in Yankee Stadium. Two rookies take the mound with Early and Cam Schlittler. And one of baseball's most well-known teams will advance while sending their heated rival home for the winter.
Craig Counsell’s ‘simple’ reason for mistake of letting Cubs’ Shota Imanaga face Manny Machado
The San Diego Padres forced a crucial winner-take-all finale on Wednesday when they defeated the Chicago Cubs 3-0. A major reason for the win was due to a masterclass pitching performance from the entire staff, and a two-run home run by Manny Machado in the 5th inning to put the icing on the cake.
For Game 2, manager Craig Counsell decided to go with an opener, Andrew Kittredge, ahead of Shota Imanaga. Kittredge pitched a clean inning in Game 1, but he allowed the first run of the contest in the 1st inning by a sac-fly from Jackson Merrill. Imanaga replaced him in the second inning. The idea behind the opener was to give Imanaga one less opportunity to face the 1-5 hitters in the San Diego lineup. Imanaga pitched well until the fifth inning, when Machado (batting 3rd) stepped up to the plate with Fernando Tatis Jr. on second base.
With two outs in the inning, Counsell decided to leave his star pitcher on the mound.
In an article from The Athletic, Sahadev Sharma broke down what Counsill said postgame about the decision.
“Look, the result suggested we should have done something different,” Counsell said. “Really just confidence in Shota, plain and simple, there. I thought he was pitching well, I thought he was throwing really well. Unfortunately, he made a mistake.”
The loss is not on Imanaga, as clearly the Cubs could not score a run. The offense must improve if they want to take down former Cub Yu Darvish on Thursday.
The same can be said about the Padres' offense. Even Machado is aware that the offense isn't playing up to par, including himself. Before the homer, he was hitless in the series.
“I don’t put a manager’s cap on,” Machado said. “I’m 0-for-6 at that point. So yeah, I’m not thinking about (being walked). For myself, I was just thinking about trying to get to Imanaga.”
The Cubs are sending Jameson Taillon for Game 3 against Yu Darvish for the Friars. The winner will head to Milwaukee for a best-of-five NLDS series.
