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Red Sox ace ‘set the tempo’ for blowout win with ‘Show me’ attitude, dominant fastball
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- Red Sox ace ‘set the tempo’ for blowout win with ‘Show me’ attitude, dominant fastball
BALTIMORE — Garrett Crochet is a bona fide ace and one of the very best pitchers in the major leagues. So when he puts together a strong start after two straight stinkers, is there a sense of relief ?
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Crochet said Saturday.
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After a disastrous outing in Minneapolis and an uneven showing six days ago against the Tigers, Crochet was back to normal Saturday in Baltimore, throwing six shutout innings and striking out seven batters in a 17-1 Red Sox rout . Baltimore had just three hits against Boston ’s ace and was never really in the game. For Crochet, it was much-needed confirmation of an ongoing process.
“I know I don’t suck, but when you’re not seeing results, it’s like, ‘That’s just not fun,’” he said. “Today, especially against a division opponent and a very potent lineup, through and through, and following last night’s game, to be able to go shutdown inning multiple times today, that felt really good.”
After allowing 11 runs (10 earned) in 1-⅔ innings on April 13 against the Twins, Crochet felt good about his work between starts but still took the loss after allowing five runs in five innings against Detroit on Sunday at Fenway Park. He spent the last week going back to the drawing board ahead of Saturday’s outing, which was moved up four hours to a 12:05 p.m. ET first pitch due to rain.
The early start didn’t impact Crochet, who needed 14 pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning and retired the first seven Baltimore batters he faced. As the Red Sox opened up an early lead that grew to 7-0 by the time Crochet took the mound in the fifth, he was on cruise control.
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“I think he set the tempo from the mound,” said manager Alex Cora. “The fastball was playing and the delivery was very aggressive. I don’t want to say ‘smooth’ because it’s never smooth. He was moving well today. He was moving fast.”
Crochet’s gameplan against Baltimore was a simple one. He wanted to overpower the Orioles lineup with his four-seam fastball and threw it 53 times in 90 pitches (59%), far exceeding his season average (28%). He got seven whiffs on the pitch, which averaged 95.7 mph. The pitch proved effective all day, just as catcher Connor Wong had predicted.
“Connor did a great job calling the game,” Crochet said. “We’ve been lowkey searching for the past three starts now. It’s like, ‘What is it that I have to do to gameplan for teams?’ Connor went in to today with, ‘No one has hit your (four-seamer) all season.’ We were just gonna throw it until they did. That worked out pretty well for us.
“In the past, I would go away from it without anyone proving it. Tonight, it was just, ‘Show me.’ And if you show me, I might not believe you.”
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Perhaps Crochet’s most important pitch of the game wasn’t a fastball, though. In the third inning, with two men on in a 3-0 game, he got ahead of the dangerous Gunnar Henderson . Crochet then landed a sweeper for a called strike three.
“That was pretty satisfying,” he said.
The pitch was emblematic of the day for Crochet, who helped the Red Sox snap a four-game losing streak with his third quality start in six tries this season. His ERA dropped from 7.88 to 6.30 — a small step in what he hopes is a prolonged trend.
“I won’t say it’s not being afraid to fail because I’m terrified to fail. Most guys in the big leagues are,” he said. “That’s what drives you to continue to work and to continue to push for success. It’s just being OK with it and knowing how to fail and knowing how to bounce back.”
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Crochet’s season will be defined by what happens next Friday against the Astros and every start after that . On Saturday, though, it looked like the Red Sox had their ace back.
“He’s trending in the right direction,” Cora said. “ Minnesota seems like a while ago now. It seems like the stuff is there, and hopefully, we can take off.”
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