Red Sox Notes: Boston ‘Didn’t Make Plays’ Behind Garrett Crochet
The Boston Red Sox fell victim to the weather and mistakes to drop another game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Tuesday’s 6-1 final.
The Red Sox had just five hits with their ace Garrett Crochet on the mound. Alex Cora trusted the frontline arm to go deep again, this time with an extra day of rest, to grind through another start.
“He did a good job,” Cora told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “Tough conditions. George (Springer) hits a home run and we don’t make plays. That was it. He did more than enough. He did a good job.”
Just like the offense, the Red Sox didn’t do much with the gloves to help their start, particularly when throwing errors from Alex Bregman and Kristian Campbell fueled a four-run sixth inning for Toronto.
“We didn’t make plays,” Cora reiterated.
Crochet allowed just one earned run but still doesn’t believe he’s reached a dominant level this season after three starts. He battled through five innings on Opening Day and walked four hitters in the cold for the Red Sox in his second start against the American League East.
“Terrible,” Crochet told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “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.”
His manager knows that locating and executing pitches in the mid-30s temperatures of April is no easy task on a gusty night at Fenway Park.
“Very (difficult),” Cora added. “I went out to the mound twice and I felt it. It was windy, too. The dugout was OK, but you go out there and it was tough. We always complain about the weather in April. We don’t in October. It is what it is.”
Here are more notes from Tuesday night’s Blue Jays-Red Sox game:
— Boston’s defensive improvement is yet to come to fruition. The Red Sox made two more errors Tuesday and lead the American League with 12 on the season. Boston led the American League in errors in 2023 and 2024 as well.
— The Red Sox fell back to the .500 mark at 6-6 through 12 games.
— The 35-degree first pitch temperature marked the third coldest at Fenway Park since Baseball Reference began tracking this figure, per Red Sox PR.
— Crochet set a new career-high with 107 pitches in the loss. The Red Sox starter tossed just 65 of those pitches for strikes.
— Boston scored just three runs over the last two nights after a 36-run outburst over the previous three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals at home.
— The Red Sox and Blue Jays continue the four-game series Wednesday night when Boston sends Tanner Houck to the mound against Toronto’s Kevin Gausman. First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.