The last 72 hours have been a roller coaster for the Red Sox.
The weekend trip to Baltimore was supposed to be a reset, a chance to get away from Fenway Park after a 2-5 homestand that ended with a sweep at the hands of the first-place Yankees.
Friday brought more of the same. Brayan Bello was tagged for five home runs, Boston was blown out, and Craig Breslow had seen enough.
Less than 24 hours later, everything changed.
With an early start time on Saturday due to incoming weather, no one knew it would be Alex Cora’s final game as Red Sox manager. He went out with a bang, Boston erupted for 17 runs on 17 hits, looking like a completely different team.
Hours later, Breslow fired Cora and five members of his staff, promoting WooSox manager Chad Tracy to interim manager.
It’s not even May, and the Red Sox have already blown up their coaching staff, a dramatic reset with 135 games still left on the schedule.
In the series finale, Boston debuted its new leadership group, with Tracy on the bench alongside new third base coach Chad Epperson and hitting coach Collin Hetzler, beginning the process of establishing a new culture.
Connelly Early turned in the longest start of his big league career, going 6 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on four hits, including a pair of solo homers. He walked one and struck out four. His previous career high came April 15 against the Twins in Minnesota.
With the clubhouse still processing the managerial change, Early said the focus was on supporting one another and moving forward as a team.
“We talked within the team before the game and just wanted to go out there and play baseball and support each other,” Early said. “So I think we did a really good job today, played some really good baseball and played the way AC would want us to play.”
The left-hander threw 32 four-seam fastballs, averaging 94.1 mph and topping out at 97.3 mph. He induced four swings and misses with the heater. He also recorded three swings and misses with his curveball and one with his slider, according to Baseball Savant.
The two blemishes for Early came off the bat of Samuel Basallo, allowing a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. Gunnar Henderson added a solo homer to right-center field in the sixth and finished the game with two RBI.
“I just think we played really good baseball,” Early said. “We played hard baseball today. We stole some bags, got some really big knocks in there, pitched the ball really well. So that’s the way AC wants us to go out there and play. And I think we did a really good job just sticking with what we do.”
Tracy had high praise for Early, whom he managed briefly during his time with the WooSox.
“He was awesome,” Tracy said. “He was really, really good. He fell behind in some counts … Kind of midway point of the game, he was falling behind, but he got back in counts really quickly, attacked the zone. He had some three-ball counts that I felt like he won. Instead of a walk, got a strikeout, which was awesome. And he pitched deep in the game.”
Despite the chaos surrounding him, Early remained locked in on the mound.
“Just another game,” he said. “Sometimes can’t let stuff
