Through the first three innings of the decisive Game 3 of the AL Wild Card series clash between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, with rookie starter Connelly Early holding his own against a very deep Yankees lineup. He was almost mirroring what Cam Schlittler was doing opposite him on the mound, but in the fourth inning, the floodgates opened, with the Yankees scoring four runs in quick succession to chase him out of the game in what was eventually a 4-0 win for New York.

Early exited the game having allowed four total runs (three earned) in just 3.2 innings of work for a rough single-start ERA of 7.36. But advanced metrics suggest that the rookie southpaw did not get any help from his defense whatsoever. As baseball content creator Dillard Barnhart pointed out on X (formerl

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