The Red Sox went ice cold on a frigid night in Boston on Tuesday, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-1, at Fenway Park. The Boston bats appeared to be frozen, the defense had some major slippage, and ace Garrett Crochet struggled with his command in his Fenway debut.

Add all of it up and the Red Sox suffered their biggest defeat of the young season and lost for a second straight game. Last week's five-game winning streak had instill a lot of hope for the 2025 squad, but those warm feelings were no match for the chilly temps on Tuesday.

The game-time temperature Tuesday night was 35 degrees, which ranks as the third coldest on record for a Red Sox home game, according to Baseball Reference. The coldest first pitch logged at Fenway Park was 34 degrees, which happened twice: April 17, 2003 in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, and April 15, 2018 against the Baltimore Orioles.

Boston manager Alex Cora didn't dismiss the fact that it was near-freezing during the ballgame, but he also wouldn't let his team use the frigid temps as an excuse. It's something the team hopes they have to deal with again -- though they'd much rather battle some cold air in October over April.

"I went out to the mound twice and I felt it. It was windy too. In the dugout it was OK, but then you go out there and it's tough," Cora said after the loss. "We always complain about the weather in April, but we don't in October. It is what it is and we needed to play the game."

And really, it wasn't the cold that doomed the Red Sox on Tuesday. The Red Sox did it to themselves with another quiet offensive night and more sloppiness in the field.

Offensively, the Boston bats mustered just eight hits on the night and struck out a dozen times. Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers, Alex Bregman, and Rob Refsnyder were a combined 2-for-15 at the top of the order with seven strikeouts. The Red Sox had just one extra-base hit on the night (a double by first baseman Romy Gonzalez) and were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The team left seven runners on base.

As frustrating as the offense was, Boston's defense was even worse Tuesday night. 

Red Sox commit two game-changing errors in sixth

The Red Sox and the Blue Jays were scoreless when Crochet came out for the sixth inning. He needed just three pitches to retire the first batter, but then gave up a solo homer to George Springer to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Crochet got Ernie Clement to fly out for the inning's second out, but that's when the wheels fell off for the Boston defense.

It looked like Crochet would get out of the inning without any further damage when he got Davis Schneider to hit a routine grounder to third. But Bregman delivered a low throw to Gonzalez at first -- one Gonzalez should have been able to scoop -- and was charged with his team-leading third error of the season. 

Crochet didn't do himself any favors, walking the next matter on four pitches. Tyler Heineman followed with a sharp grounder that second baseman Kristian Campbell was able to coral on the lip of the outfield, but then the rookie put a little too much on his throw to first and sent it to the Boston dugout. 

That miscue plated another run for Toronto to make it a 2-0 game, and Crochet's night was done after a five-pitch walk to No. 9 hitter Alan Roden. Zach Kelly came in and promptly gave up a two-run single to Bo Bichette.

Instead of Crochet getting out of the sixth with just one run on the board for the Blue Jays, the Red Sox let Toronto plate three more runs thanks to a pair of sloppy fielding miscues. Boston now leads the Major Leagues with 12 errors on the season, and have the second-worst fielding percentage (.973) behind only the Cleveland Guardians (.971). 

Crochet not pleased with himself after first Fenway start

After he was lights out in a win over the St. Louis Cardinals last week, Crochet was just OK in his Fenway Park debut on Tuesday. He scattered five hits and struck out five over his 5.2 innings, but also walked four batters, which Crochet said "kinda sucks" after the loss. He also struggled with his fastball command as he threw 107 pitches, and Springer took him deep on an absolute meatball down the plate.

Crochet said after the game the cold weather "wasn't terrible" to deal with. He did, however, call his stuff "terrible" for the night.

"There really hasn't been a start this year where I feel like I've had my best stuff. Hopefully that's because I'm building and they're all going to come later in the year," Crochet said of his outing. "But just not getting to the glove side very well with the four-seam or the cutter, a lot of over-correcting with the two and just yanking and not really driving it there."

Crochet said he didn't have any unusual problems gripping the ball in the cold. He said his issues were all mechanical and had nothing to do with the chilly weather.

"Whether I'm behind in the count or with runners in scoring position, there are some times where I'm picking my shots to just get ahead here," he explained. "It's a passive approach and not one that I'd like to take often, but tonight, it was just a gritty start."

Crochet was only tagged with one earned run on Tuesday, and his ERA for the season sits at just 1.45. But with one spectacular start and two so-so ones after three outings, the lefty knows he can be a lot better for his new team.