For a moment, Boston had reason to worry. Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox’s breakout ace, had shown rare cracks in the armor over his last handful of outings — capped by a September 2 start against Cleveland, where he surrendered four home runs in six innings. Add in a shaky August appearance in Houston, and the alarms were starting to sound.
But on Monday night in Sacramento against the A’s, Crochet slammed the door on any talk of a late-season unraveling. The 25-year-old lefty was back to his dominant self, throwing seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, striking out 10, and walking nobody in a breezy 7-0 Red Sox win.
It was the kind of response Boston desperately needed — and one that reminded the league why Crochet has quickly become one of the most feared arms in baseball. Out of his 29 starts this year, he’s given up more than two earned runs just five times. And now, he has shown that he can quickly adjust after hitting turbulence.
Red Sox Ace Had Been ‘Scuffling’
After the win, Crochet admitted he had been “scuffling” for longer than just the Cleveland and Houston games.
“Not even just the last one. I felt like the last five, outside of New York, I was kind of scuffling,” he told reporters. “From the outside, it’s easy to look at [the Cleveland game] as a blip. But I was pretty pissed. I couldn’t really pinpoint where it went wrong.”
The turnaround, he explained, came from simplifying.
“It was more of a pitch-to-pitch focus. This pitch, then the next one,” Crochet said. “It freed me up a little bit. It got me out of worrying about three-ball counts, worrying about walks, worrying about damage. You can’t always make the perfect pitch. Tonight, I felt like I freed myself up from a lot of that.”
Crochet Credits Red Sox Backup Catcher
There was also a technical fix behind the resurgence. Crochet credited backup catcher Connor Wong for spotting a mechanical flaw — despite not being his usual battery mate.
“Big credit to Wong,” Crochet said. “I just hadn’t been locating the four-seam glove side. He got me on practicing the front-hip glove-side sinker just to make sure I’m fully extended on the pitch. It got my four-seam back dialed in.”
The result? A smooth, deliberate outing where Crochet said he felt fresh even late into the game.
“I felt like each pitch was very deliberate tonight, and I never felt like I was over-exerting. I had a lot of energy left in the tank. This late in the season, just happy I was able to make it through seven.”
For Boston, it’s more than just one win over a last-place team. It’s a reassurance that their ace is recalibrated at a time when September questions were starting to mount. And with Crochet back in form, the Red Sox have at least one problem they don’t need to worry about down the stretch.
