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In biggest start of his Red Sox career, ace Garrett Crochet keeps Boston afloat in playoff race
āAs we're nearing the end here, I don't want to have any regret on my mind here in a couple weeks."
Garrett Crochet brushed aside talk of the stakes involving Sunday’s start against the Yankees.
For Boston’s ace, every start presents the same level of urgency for both himself and his ballclub.
“Really, from April on, every game counts,” the lefty said postgame.
Of course, Alex Cora sang a different tune the previous afternoon about the unsteady ground his club finds itself on.
“I think we should stop talking about October, to be honest with you,” Cora said on Saturday. “There’s a lot of stuff going on and we have to play better. I’m not saying we’re in a bad spot. But we have to wait to see if October is part of this.”
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Even though Boston entered Sunday still in playoff position within the American League Wild-Card standings, Cora’s team had little in terms of breathing room with just two weeks to go in the regular season.
Entering Crochet’s start on Sunday night, the Red Sox weren’t just looking to avoid a sweep at home against their most-hated rival.
They were looking to stop the bleeding on an extended slide that has made Boston go from a postseason lock to a team poised to look over its shoulder in the standings for the next 13 games.
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After going 6-8 over their last 14 games, the Red Sox went to bed on Saturday tied with the Astros in the standings — and just two games ahead of the Rangers, who currently sit below the playoff cut-off line.
The Red Sox needed a stop on Sunday. And as he’s done for most of the year, Crochet obliged with another electric outing at Fenway Park.
The southpaw put Boston back on the winning track against New York — helping to secure a 6-4 win for his team after allowing three runs and striking out 12 over six innings of work.
Crochet, whose lone blemishes came off a two-run shot from Amed Rosario and a solo homer from Aaron Judge — tied a career-high with his 12 strikeouts on Sunday.
“He was locked in from the get-go,” Cora said of Crochet. “Obviously, they did some damage, that’s what they do. But overall, he gave us what we needed tonight.”
After giving up first-inning leads to the Yankees in each of the first two games of the series, Boston battened down the hatches on Sunday with Crochet toeing the rubber. The 26-year-old ace posted a clean first inning — striking out both Austin Slater and Judge to open the contest.
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Boston’s bats responded in the bottom of the frame — posting five-straight hits and scoring six runs against Will Warren right out of the gate to give Crochet some cushion for the rest of the night.
“Obviously, I thought we needed this game. Had to put the first two [losses] behind us,” Trevor Story said postgame. “We knew we had Crochet going. So yeah, we jumped on them early and strung together a lot of really good at-bats.”
Even with the Yankees leaving the yard twice against Crochet, the lefty was sharp with his arsenal of pitches — recording 20 swing-and-misses pitches across his 99 total offerings.
For all of the concern regarding Crochet’s workload down the stretch as he heads into uncharted waters with his innings pitched (191.1 — well ahead of his previous career-high of 146 innings), Crochet ended his start against New York with an at-bat against Paul Goldschmidt where he reached 99.5 miles per hour on his fastball.
“As we’re nearing the end here, I don’t want to have any regret on my mind here in a couple weeks,” Crochet said of his approach. “Just trying to do everything I can to put us in a good spot.”
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“And if that means giving it a little extra gas, although I didn’t feel like I had to give it extra — it was a packed house tonight. We already talked about it being a must-win game. Just doing everything I could.”
Crochet has continued to be a constant in an up-and-down season for Boston.
As noted by MLB stats guru Sarah Langs, Crochet is one of just three Red Sox pitchers to record 230 or more strikeouts and allow fewer than 60 runs in one 30-outing stretch — joining a select group that includes only Pedro Martinez and Chris Sale.
Sunday might have been the most high-stakes game that Crochet has pitched in with Boston (whether or not he wants to admit it).
But even more will be asked of the Red Sox ace moving forward, especially if Boston meets with the Yankees once again in October.
“It’d be cool, because it means that we’re in the postseason,” Crochet said of potentially battling the Yankees in the Wild-Card round. “I think that that’s the main focus right now. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.
“I think that we’re just doing everything possible to make sure we’re playing our best baseball as we get down the stretch.”
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