Garrett Crochet tossed another gem, but Red Sox wasted it again
The Boston Red Sox got another masterful performance from ace Garrett Crochet Tuesday night against the Angels. And once again, the Boston Red Sox let it go to waste.
Crochet effortlessly tossed seven shutout innings against the Angels in the middle game of a three-game set in Anahiem, only for the Boston bullpen to blow the game in the eighth inning and eventually lose it, 3-2, in extras.
Crochet was locked in from the first pitch, and struck out leadoff man Zach Neto to begin his outing. He fanned a pair in the opening frame and needed just 12 pitches to get through the inning. He worked around a pair of second-inning walks by getting a double play ball and striking out Gustavo Campero looking to end the inning.
The Boston lefty didn't surrender his first hit until there was two outs in the fourth inning, when Taylor Ward hit a double to left field. Logan O'Hoppe followed with a single, but Ward was thrown out at home to end the inning and keep Crochet's shutout bid alive.
Jo Adell reached on an infield single in the bottom of the seventh, accounting for the third and final hit Crochet would give up. By the end of his outing, Crochet had racked up 10 strikeouts in just 103 pitches, 67 of which went for strikes. He struck out five of those batters over his final three innings of work.
It marked the first start of Crochet's career where he pitched seven shutout innings and struck out at least 10 batters. He's getting better and better as he progresses through his first season with the Red Sox.
Crochet has now allowed just two runs in his last three starts over 21.1 innings, baffling the Mariners, Yankees, and Angels with his full arsenal. Crochet's fastball was on Tuesday night, as was his cutter, sweeper, and sinker.
Halfway through the season, Crochet leads the American League with 135 strikeouts and 109.1 innings pitched. He ranks third in the AL with a 2.06 ERA.
On Tuesday, Crochet joined Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers to strike out at least 110 batters and allow fewer than 30 runs over their first 17 starts with the Red Sox.
But despite another dominant performance from their ace on Tuesday night, the Red Sox dropped their fourth straight game.
Red Sox waste Crochet's gem
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning after Marcelo Mayer smacked his first career triple and scored on a sac fly. That looked like it would be all the run support Crochet would need for the evening.
The cushion wasn't enough for the Boston bullpen though. Greg Weissert came on in the bottom of the eighth, and surrendered a game-tying home run to Angels rookie Christian Moore. It was Weissert's fourth blown save of the season.
Aroldis Chapman put up more zeros in the bottom of the ninth, and the Red Sox took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th when Mayer recorded his first three-hit game with an RBI single to plate Ceddanne Rafaela.
Again, the one-run cushion was not enough. In the bottom of the 10th, Moore bit the Red Sox again with a two-run homer off Justin Wilson for the walk-off victory. Wilson has now blown four saves on the season as well.
Crochet sits at just 7-4 on the season, but he could be at 10 wins already if the Boston offense would wake up in his starts and the bullpen would stop coughing up leads. Tuesday night's loss dropped the Red Sox to 40-41 on the season.
Crochet has been everything the Red Sox have needed out of an ace this season. If the rest of the team would hit and pitch a little better for him, the Red Sox would be a playoff team and not one desperate to stay above .500 halfway through the season.
