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Garrett Crochet (shoulder) placed on injured list as Red Sox call up speedster to take roster spot
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- Garrett Crochet (shoulder) placed on injured list as Red Sox call up speedster to take roster spot
TORONTO — Four days after a fantastic start in Baltimore , Garrett Crochet is headed to the injured list with a shoulder issue.
The Red Sox placed Crochet on the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation (retroactive to April 26) on Wednesday, and called up speedster Nate Eaton to take his spot. Crochet was in line to start Friday night against Houston ; now Triple-A lefty Jake Bennett, who was scratched from Worcester's rotation earlier this week , is likely to make his major league debut against Houston.
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Crochet said he began to feel some fatigue in his shoulder during his Saturday outing in Baltimore and that he is "pretty confident, in this moment," that he will be back in Boston 's rotation when he's eligible in about two weeks.
"Just some fatigue I was feeling in my last start," Crochet said at Rogers Centre. "Was able to grind through it there at the end. It just makes more sense to get ahead of it now so I'm not playing catch-up the rest of the season.
"It's tough. Talked to Bres ( Craig Breslow ) and Brandon (head athletic trainer Brandon Henry) yesterday about trying to push through and ultimately, what good is that doing for the team if I'm just kicking the can down the road?"
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According to a source, Crochet's shoulder discomfort is said to be trending better on a daily basis with the club deciding to be cautious by placing him on the IL at this stage. The lefty hasn't stopped throwing in the wake of his last outing, in which he logged six shutout innings and struck out seven batters at Camden Yards.
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"We saw some pretty good development over the course of the past three days," Crochet said. "The plan is just to continue to challenge it while also giving it time to recover."
Crochet said that he did not feel any fatigue in his shoulder during a poor two-start stretch in which he allowed 16 runs (15 earned) in just 6 ⅔ combined innings against Minnesota (April 13) and Detroit (April 19). Instead, he blamed his spring training build-up for the issue, which popped up in the middle of his start against the Orioles.
"At the end of the day, I feel like it was something that was preventable," he said. "During the build-up, I just lost strength and never really got it back."
Crochet pointed out how he skipped a Grapefruit League start March 15 to instead pitch in a minor league game.
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"Maybe it's not entirely preventable," he said. "Maybe there's just variables that are outside of our control. I skipped that start in spring, so maybe looking back that was a sign of something that was to come. I don't really know."
Interim manager Chad Tracy said the hope is Crochet will return right when he's first able to be activated.
"I think Garrett feels that way, too, especially because of the fact he's been able to continue to throw over the last couple of days and it was just more so — is he going to bounce back from this or is it going to linger?" Tracy said. "So I think there's confidence in that. Obviously don't hold me to that. We have to see how he responds. But I think everybody feels confident that that's going to be the case."
Crochet showed no signs of injury Saturday when he allowed three hits in six shutout innings in a 17-1 Red Sox win that turned out to be Alex Cora's last game as the club's manager. That said, his velocity dipped late in that game.
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"He was making improvements but for Garrett and for our team, the best decision for him right now is we do the IL and let him get the shoulder strong," Tracy said.
So far this season, Crochet has a 6.30 ERA, with three poor starts and three good ones on his resumé.
Crochet joins Sonny Gray , Kutter Crawford , Patrick Sandoval and Johan Oviedo on the injured list for Boston. Bennett is expected to be the next man up, joining Payton Tolle as reinforcements in the rotation. Connelly Early (Saturday) and Ranger Suárez (Sunday) will start against Houston over the weekend. Gray, whose hamstring strain is minor, could return as early as Wednesday in Detroit and has progressed well enough to put that possibility in play.
On Wednesday, however, the Red Sox chose to call up Eaton to add an extra bench option for their series finale against the Blue Jays. Eaton is not in the lineup against lefty Eric Lauer and may be sent down Friday when the Red Sox add a pitcher (likely Bennett) to the roster.
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In 27 games with Worcester this season, Eaton hit .292 with five doubles, three homers, six steals and an .831 OPS. The 29-year-old was one of the final cuts at the end of spring training after appearing in 41 regular season games for the Red Sox last season and starting two more in the postseason against the Yankees .
Eaton exclusively played outfield in spring training, a period that was interrupted by his time playing for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. At Triple-A, Eaton has played at least 42 innings at all three outfield positions and a single inning at third base, largely for Tracy, who took over for Cora on an interim basis this past weekend.
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