One of the players the Red Sox heavily pursued in free agency proved to be the difference Tuesday night.
Pete Alonso, who was linked to Boston throughout the offseason before signing a lucrative deal with the Orioles, delivered the decisive blow in Baltimore’s 4-2 win at Fenway Park.
With the game tied in the third inning, Alonso launched a go-ahead two-run homer into the Green Monster seats. The blast, his 12th of the season, traveled 400 feet and left the bat at 110.8 mph.
Alonso’s swing ultimately provided the margin in a game the Red Sox struggled to recover from offensively.
The loss dropped Boston to 25-34 on the season and 9-20 at Fenway Park, its worst home start since 1932.
Connelly Early turned in another solid effort despite taking the loss. The rookie left-hander worked 6 1/3 innings in his 12th start of the season, allowing four earned runs on six hits while striking out six and walking one.
The Orioles did most of their damage via the long ball, tagging Early for a pair of home runs, including Alonso’s game-changing shot in the third inning.
“Today, I just felt like he was behind the count too often, even when he got ahead in the count they did a really effective job, fouling off, fouling off, fouling off,” interim manager Chad Tracy said of his starter. “There was just a lot of pitches in the first few meetings, especially, they grinded him out. … I’m sure he’ll tell you, (it) wasn’t his best.
“That being said, he got us an out in the sixth, which did not look feasible as we were about halfway through the third. It is important that he got through where he did, and we were able to not overextend our bullpen.”
Connelly Early has given up at least 2 homers in 3 of his last 4 starts. 4 of his last 7.
Has given up 11 total through 63.1 IP. pic.twitter.com/GOJemTEp91
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) June 2, 2026
Early threw 96 pitches (64 for strikes), including 49 pitches over the first two frames. Coby Mayo quickly erased the 1-0 lead the Red Sox took on Jarren Duran’s leadoff triple and Wilyer Abreu’s RBI sacrifice fly, with a high fly that was changed from a double to a Green Monster homer in the top of the second.
Duran started June strong after hitting .347 (17 for 49) with six home runs over his final 11 games in May. Duran connected for a leadoff triple on a knuckle curve from Shane Baz.
“I think they did a very good job with their plan, and I didn’t execute in a lot of counts, so (they) took advantage of that,” Early said.
After keeping the ball in the park through his first eight career starts, Early has run into trouble with the long ball. The left-hander has now allowed 11 home runs in his last nine outings after giving up none in his first eight starts, including Game 3 of the Wild Card Series last fall.
“Yeah, (I’ve) given up a lot of home runs, so still trying to figure that one out,” Early said.
Early has been noticeably better away from Fenway Park this season, mirroring a trend that has affected the Red Sox as a whole. The rookie owns a 2.67 ERA across six road starts, spanning 33 2/3 innings. Tuesday marked his sixth home start, and after allowing four runs to Baltimore, his ERA at Fenway climbed to 3.85 over 32 2/3 innings.
“I think we did a really good job in this past series on all sides of the ball,” Early said, “and then to lose the momentum that we have built over the past couple games is tough.”
Boston’s offense continued its frustrating boom-or-bust trend, going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position while leaving four men on base.
Meanwhile, Baz carved through the Red Sox lineup over seven strong innings. The former Rays starter allowed two runs on four hits, walked two and struck out six while throwing 94 pitches, 64 for strikes.
The loss dropped Boston to 18-27 against right-handed starters this season.
After surrendering Duran’s leadoff triple in the first inning, Baz
