BOSTON — Minutes after the Red Sox' 6-2 loss went final Sunday , Garrett Crochet was huddled in the corner of the clubhouse with pitching coach Andrew Bailey and a couple of teammates in an attempt to dissect what had just happened on the mound.
Crochet, coming off the worst start of his career six days ago in Minneapolis , was heartened by the fact he dominated the Tigers at times and said parts of his outing represented the best he had felt all year. The overwhelming emotion, though, was frustration because of an ugly line that included five earned runs and seven hits (two homers) in just five innings.
"The performance up to this point, I've said it's unacceptable multiple times going back to Houston ," Crochet said. "But it's still the case."
Six days after allowing 11 runs (10 earned) and recording just five outs against the Twins, Crochet returned to the mound Sunday looking to take a step forward. Despite a crisper pitch mix and moments when he looked like a Cy Young candidate, the lefty still dug an early hole for an anemic Red Sox offense and wasn't able to climb out. That made Sunday's result, he said, more frustrating than his historically bad Monday at Target Field.
"The last one was so bad you can't even have any emotion about it," Crochet said. "This one, I felt like I was dominating until I wasn't."
Crochet's start in Minnesota unraveled fast. Sunday's, though, was a tale of two poor innings that book-ended dominance. In the first inning, Crochet got two quick outs and got ahead of Matt Vierling with an 0-2 count before the outfielder ripped a sweeper for a double. Seven pitches later, Dillon Dingler drove Vierling home on a cutter that caught too much of the plate. In all, an efficient start turned into a 25-pitch first for Crochet, who was suddenly pitching with a 1-0 deficit.
From there, Crochet began to cruise, retiring 12 of 14 batters and running his strikeout count up to eight in a period he described as "4.2 damn good innings." With two outs in the fifth — after Crochet struck out the first two batters on eight total pitches — the wheels fell off.
First, Crochet left a 2-0 sinker over the plate and Jahmai Jones crushed it to left-center for a solo shot. Gleyber Torres then walked on four pitches and Matt Vierling singled before catcher Dingler became the third Tiger to take Crochet deep with a 397-foot, three-run shot to center that made the score 5-1.
"In that inning, he just lost it, it seems like," said manager Alex Cora. "Before that, besides the first inning, the stuff was really good. The four-seam played, the sinker. The cutter, the velo was up there today. Some positive strides but that last inning didn't work out."
The key in the fifth, Crochet said, was not about a lack of execution on the pitches that got hit hard or being too predictable, something he had theorized was an issue as he tried to get back on track throughout the week . Instead, he said, his issues stemmed from falling behind in counts. Falling behind Jones 2-0 hurt him enough. The four-pitch walk to Torres, though, represented the most frustrating moment of Crochet's day.
"I feel like I can confidently say that's what it, whereas last start, I was reeling and searching," Crochet said. "I mentioned the predictability, I think, trying to fish a little bit for a reason that could have been. When it's 1.2 (innings) and 11 (runs), it seems like they knew what was coming. But tonight, it was just count leverage when I had success and when I didn't have it, I got banged around pretty good.
"To be honest, I don't even know if that (predictability) was ever really the issue. I think that was more of what I thought was the issue. Right now, it's that every mistake I make is getting absolutely hammered. It's because there are mistakes when I'm behind in the count."
Crochet was happy that he was able to use his four-seam fastball up in the zone and increased usage of that pitch, up to 38%. His velocity increased to an average of 95.8 mph, which is right about at his yearly mean. Still, five Tigers hit balls off him at 99 mph or harder.
It was just the seventh time in a Red Sox uniform that Crochet had allowed multiple home runs.
"Moving in the right direction for sure, but it's wins and losses," Crochet said. "It's one (or the other). It sucks that I feel like I am moving in the right direction and I also happened to lose the game for us.
"It's just tough that it's kinda the same sticking point for me. Right now, I feel like I know what needs to happen. It's just a matter of doing it."
Through five starts, Crochet has an unsightly 7.88 ERA. The Red Sox — who were (including the postseason) 24-9 in his starts last year — have lost three of the five games their ace has pitched. While the lack of offensive production has been the biggest problem in the first 21 games of the season, Crochet didn't run from the fact that his performance has been alarmingly substandard as well.
"It's a pretty surprising thing," Crochet said. "I'm surprised I've given up 16 runs in my past two starts and haven't made it into the sixth in either of them," he said. "I'm surprised I'm letting the team down at the level I am right now. Just continuing to make the bullpen guys get worn out. I think the little things right now are just compounding.
"You feel like you can't catch a break but we know there's going to be a stretch where we're getting all the breaks," he added. "Right now, we need to make our own good fortune in order to get the ball moving in the right direction. We've got to start pushing it."
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