Garrett Crochet had to grind early, but turned in solid Opening Day debut for Red Sox
Garrett Crochet's debut for the Boston Red Sox on Opening Day was a bit of a grind. But Boston's new ace was able to put some tough innings behind him and, ultimately, gave his new team a chance to win the first game of the season.
After dominating throughout the spring, Crochet went just five innings in Boston's 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on Thursday. He was filthy at times with four strikeouts, and surrendered just two runs on the afternoon off five hits and two walks.
But he struggled with his location early in the outing, which led to a high pitch count and early exit for the new Boston ace.
Crochet threw 61 of his 88 pitches for strikes and started 15 of the 21 batters he faced with a strike. He struck out the first batter he faced but needed 22 pitches to get through the first inning, which included a nine-pitch walk to outfielder Wyatt Langford. Crochet then needed 25 more pitches to get out of the second, but he didn't escape unscathed.
A leadoff walk to Jake Burger in the bottom of the second came back to bite Crochet, as the Rangers took a 1-0 lead two batters later when Kevin Pillar singled in the Texas first baseman. He sat the Rangers down in order in the third on 13 pitches, including a punchout of Rangers DH Craig Seager, but then got tagged for another run in the fourth when Kyle Higashioka smacked a double off the center-field wall, scoring Pillar to give Texas a 2-1 edge.
The Higashioka double came off a slider that Crochet left up in the zone, and the lefty said after the game that was the one pitch he would like back from the afternoon. But he buckled and angrily struck out Josh Smith on three pitches to end the fourth. Crochet gave up a single to start the fifth but escaped thanks to a 3-6-3 double play and a nice play by Alex Bregman at third.
Crochet looked like an ace at times, and like a pitcher making his first start of the season at others. He struggled with his fastball location early, and the 25-year-old knows he can be a lot better.
"Kind of a grinder day from the start," he said after the outing. "I felt like I struggled with consistent execution and maybe took a few too many shots in the first couple of innings tying to get swings and misses. Dug myself into a hole with the pitch count early. But later in the game I started trusting the defense and everybody other than myself, and tried to fill up the zone the best I could."
Crochet was disappointed he couldn't give the Red Sox six or seven innings on Opening Day, and he was really upset with himself over his two walks. For a guy who walked just 33 batters over 146 innings last season for the White Sox, two free passes wasn't acceptable on Thursday.
"The first two innings really taxed my pitch count," he said. "But I'm going to walk away from the day priding myself that I was able to be a lot more efficient later in the outing."
No Crochet extension during season
The Red Sox traded away four prospects -- including their last two first-round picks -- to bring in Crochet during the winter, and he's under team control through next season. The southpaw is the kind of pitcher Boston should lock up on a long-term deal, but that won't be happening during the season.
There were some extension talks in the spring, but Crochet has made it clear he doesn't want to negotiate during the season. Manager Alex Cora said the same thing last season before agreeing to a three-year extension in-season, but Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said ahead of Opening Day the team will respect Crochet's wishes.
"Right now, Garrett is getting ready to throw the first pitch for the 2025 season. I think he has been outspoken about wanting to table conversations and be able to focus on the season," Breslow said in Texas, via Chris Cotillo of Mass Live. "We absolutely want to respect that and we're super excited about what he's gonna do for us.
"Out of respect for Garrett and the conversations, those will remain between us. Where we are today is just super excited we have a legitimate ace that's going to take the mound," added Breslow. "We're going to see dominant stuff. I've maintained throughout the offseason that it's a really important part of our strategy to identify players who can be part of the long-term success here. When we find those, we're going to do everything we can to keep them here."
