Garrett Crochet keeps getting better for the Boston Red Sox
Garrett Crochet delivered another brilliant performance for the Red Sox on Sunday, as Boston's ace continues to get better and better as the season progresses. The lefty struck out a season-high 12 Braves in a 3-1 Red Sox victory while setting a new career mark for pitches thrown.
It was only a few weeks ago that Crochet was lifted after just 85 pitches in an outing against the New York Mets. On Sunday, there was no pitch limit for the 25-year-old in just his second full season as a starter, as Crochet tossed a career-high 112 pitches over his seven innings of one-run ball.
Crochet threw 75 of those pitches for strikes, as he hit double digit strikeouts for the second straight start and the third time this season. He scattered five hits and walked just two, and Crochet got even more dominant as the game went on.
The Braves got a run off Crochet in the bottom of the first off a solo homer by Marcell Ozuna, but the southpaw sat down the next five hitters he faced before a third-inning walk. Crochet saw Ozuna again in the third inning with two out and runners on the corners, and struck out the Braves DH swinging on three pitches.
Atlanta had runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Crochet worked out of that jam as well. He got the next three batters -- included two by way of the K -- to escape unscathed. The Braves had runners on the corners and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, but Crochet got Matt Olsen to ground out after a six-pitch at-bat to end the frame.
Crochet had a 1-2-3 sixth inning with two more punchouts, and went to the dugout with 99 pitches on the afternoon. Usually, that pitch count would spell an end to Crochet's day.
But not on Sunday.
Crochet's dominant seventh inning
After a brief discussion with manager Alex Cora, Crochet went back out for the bottom of the seventh. And it wasn't going to be a brief, one-batter appearance, either. Crochet wanted the entire inning, and he got it.
"He told me, 'Let's keep going.' And I was fired up," Crochet said after picking up his fifth win of the season. "I was just hoping it wasn't for [the first batter] only. It's like, 'If you're gonna send me back out, let me go to work.' And he did. And a lot of props to AC for having trust in me there."
Crochet was at his filthiest in his final frame, as he struck out the side with relative ease. He got Michael Harris II on three pitches, followed by Nick Allen on four pitches. Both went down on a filthy Crochet sweeper; Harris II swinging and Allen looking.
Crochet fell behind Ronald Acuna Jr. with a 3-1 count, but he fought back and fanned Atlanta's dangerous leadoff man with a 91 mph cutter at his knees. Crochet delivered an emphatic fist pump and was greeted with hand shakes, fist bumps, and hugs when he got back to the Boston dugout.
Through 13 starts, Crochet has been everything the Red Sox have needed in an ace. He is their bulldog on the mound -- or "pig" as he's come to be known thanks to his filthy stuff -- and guarantees the team will have a chance to win every time he takes the mound.
Garrett Crochet's start to his Red Sox career
Crochet improved to 5-4 on the season with Sunday's victory, and his ERA sits at just 1.98 for the season -- good for seventh-best among all starting pitchers. He leads the Majors with 82 innings pitched, and opponents are hitting just .203 off Crochet.
And how about all the strikeouts? Crochet is up to 101 for the season, tied with Washington's Mackenzie Gore for the most in the big leagues. (Gore has fanned 101 in just 68.1 innings pitched.)
On Sunday, Crochet became just the third pitcher to start their Red Sox career with over 100 strikeouts through their first 13 starts, joining Pedro Martinez and Chris Sale. Martinez had 106 strikeouts over his first 13 starts in 1998, while Sale fanned 126 batters in his first 13 outings for Boston in 2017.
Given how Crochet has looked to start his Red Sox career, it will be no surprise if he's mentioned with the likes of Martinez and Sale a few more times during his time in Boston.
