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Red Sox ace explains why ‘wrong approach’ to April success led to ‘passive’ tough start Thursday
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- Red Sox ace explains why ‘wrong approach’ to April success led to ‘passive’ tough start Thursday
BOSTON — Through four starts in which he posted a 1.13 ERA, Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet repeatedly lamented how he didn't feel like he had yet pitched up to his full potential . On Thursday, after scuffling for the first time in a Red Sox uniform, he conceded that his mindset had been the wrong one.
An introspective Crochet, who issued a career-high five walks and took his first loss in a Red Sox uniform in a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Mariners , said he should have stuck what had been working by pitching aggressively in his sixth start of 2025. Instead, he was too passive while trying to become someone he's not.
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"I've just got to get back to that (attack) mentality," Crochet said. "Just referencing how I was not happy with the success I was having, feeling like I had work to do, that was the wrong approach to have. Sometimes, you've got to take the good with the bad. Today was just getting back to who I am, just filling up the zone, throwing fastballs middle-middle and if you hit it, you hit it.
"For me, pitching is hitting your spots and painting, I suppose. That's just not me. I'll have the accidental misfire paint or I really drove it on a specific pitch and it happens to be paint. But for the most part, I do a lot of my work in the heart of the zone. I think I was getting away from that because I was having success so it was like, 'What's the next thing I can work on?' Always trying to work on something as opposed to, you just get to a point where you've just got to continue what you're doing."
In his first five starts, Crochet allowed just four earned runs in 32 innings while striking out 35 batters and walking just 10. At a crowded Fenway Park on Thursday, though, he seemed off from the jump. A Dylan Moore single and Randy Arozarena walk (in which the slugger battled back from 0-2) set up a Mitch Garver two-run single in the first. After Alex Bregman put Boston on the board with a solo blast, Crochet allowed two more runs after allowing two more hits and issuing a walk to lead off the second.
He'd add more free passes in the fourth and fifth and left after throwing 110 pitches in his shortest outing since Opening Day. And while Crochet settled down late, the damage had been done on a day when the Sox' bats couldn't get much going against Bryan Woo and finished with just four hits.
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"I'm just pitching passively," Crochet said. "I've been talking in my last couple pressers getting to the glove side and it became something where I was trying to pitch instead of throw. I've always been a bit of a thrower which is just who I am. Once I started getting back to my roots and being a power pitcher later in the game, the walks were still there but I was at least able to get guys out.
"It's a bit of a mindset thing. Getting behind 1-0, the next pitch is, 'Ok, this has to be a strike,' and it's not a (good) pitch. The pressure's just continuing to build and build and build. When I'm at my best, it's a 'So what? Next pitch' mentality."
There is pressure squarely on the shoulders of Crochet, who after coming to Boston in a big offseason trade, signed an $170 million extension and is widely considered a Cy Young favorite in the American League . But it's important, too, to remember he's still just 25 (26 in June) and entered the year with only 146 big league innings under his belt as a starter. In that vein, there's still expected to be something of a learning curve, even if on most days, Crochet dominates.
The lessons learned from Thursday? Trying to throw more first-pitch strikes and rely on a fastball that topped out at 98.4 mph and still got 10 swings and misses, even on a day when Crochet didn't feel his best.
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"I think sometimes I give a little too much credit, start to overthink my sequencing and get away from the four-seam," he said. "In the third, fourth and fifth, I started throwing the four-seam a little bit more.
"I had success with it. That's what got me to the big leagues and what helped me make a name for myself last year. No reason to get away from that even if they know what's coming."
Despite Thursday's struggles — and the fact Boston is just 4-2 in his starts so far — the Red Sox are thrilled with what they've gotten from their new top-line starter throughout the first four weeks of the year. In 37 innings, he owns a stellar 1.95 ERA and has now struck out 44 batters after fanning nine Mariners.
"He battled. He gave us a chance," said Bregman, who had two of Boston's four hits and two RBIs. "Obviously, the command wasn't exactly what he wanted. I know he's super hard on himself. I've heard him talk after a few of the games already that he's gone like seven scoreless and he wants to continue working on things."
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Ultimately, Thursday's early hole was too big for the Red Sox as they fell to a mediocre 14-13 on the season. Crochet took full responsibility .
"The game was the first two innings that I pitched," Crochet said. "That's really what lost us the game today."
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Read the original article on MassLive .
