Cake 3.8 - SMTP Error: 503 5.5.1 Error: authentication not enabled

So, I’m trying to catch the error when user put in a password. However, the page goes straight to the Cake error page " SMTP Error: 503 5.5.1 Error: authentication not enabled" so I can’t catch the error like below.

$result = $email->send();
die($result);

Do you know how to get the error before it shows the error page?