BOSTON — Red Sox top starter Garrett Crochet posted a rather ordinary line Sunday against the Twins, allowing a single run on four hits while striking out six batters in five innings. His day, however, was anything but normal.
Crochet allowed a Byron Buxton homer on the first pitch he threw, was hit in the nose by Carlos Correa liner to lead off the fourth and saw his four-seam fastball velocity drop somewhat significantly from where it has been all season. In the end, the lefty took a no decision as relievers Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten blew an early Red Sox lead and Boston fell back to .500 with a 5-4 loss to the Twins.
For Crochet, who has a 2.02 ERA in eight outings this season, the five-inning start was tied for his shortest in a Red Sox uniform. He threw just 89 pitches — his lowest total since Opening Day — with back-to-back walks in the fifth inning leading to an early hook.
“The walks put him in a bad spot,” said manager Alex Cora. “He talked about it. He didn’t realize the pitch count was up there. He was efficient early on, then he had to work hard to get the outs in the fifth.”
The day started in eventful fashion as Crochet left a fastball over the heart of the plate and Buxton smashed it over the Green Monster, 367 feet away. It was a wake-up call on a dreary afternoon at Fenway.
“I’d say I don’t really get a ton of swings, typically, the first pitch of the game,” Crochet said. “That’s just what they were trying to do, get swings off early. Later in the game, their approach got a little bit more passive.”
Crochet then settled in with two quick innings before Correa stepped to the plate to lead off the fourth. On a 2-1 sinker, Correa hit an 86.7 mph rope right back up the middle, grazing Crochet’s nose as the pitcher turned his head. Kristian Campbell threw Correa out as Crochet gathered himself on the mound. There was a little blood and a couple tears, but Crochet never considered coming out of the game.
“It barely grazed me, honestly,” he said. “Just more shaken up by the initial impact than anything. I immediately went to touch my nose to see if it felt normal. It was numb at first, just from the initial impact. But it was fine.”
Crochet escaped the fifth after the walks with three straight outs and departed with the Red Sox up, 3-1. The grindy start was in part a product of diminished velocity, which both Crochet and Cora said they weren’t worried about.
Crochet averaged just 94 mph with his four-seam fastball, ranging from 93-95.7 mph with the offering. It was almost two miles per hour slower than his season average (95.9 mph) and a far cry from spring training, when he consistently flirted with triple digits and sat in the upper nineties. Some fatigue is to be expected eight outings into a new season. With that in mind, Crochet described the downtick as mechanical in nature.
“It’s just the way I’m working down the slope,” he said. “I feel like there are times when I’m just letting my body weight take me down the slope instead of driving down the mound right now. I’m able to recognize these things during the start but I’m not going to try to correct anything during a start on the field. Once I take the mound, I’m doing what I can with what I have that day.
“My in-between starts, bullpens, I’m working on my mechanics trying to clean up command as a whole. Velocity as well. It’s the second week of May or the first week of May. That’s just what I’m chalking it up to.”
With the fastball velocity down, Crochet used it less frequently. He threw the four-seamer just 15 times (17%) on Sunday while using a heavy sinker-cutter approach against Minnesota’s lineup.
“It was just a little bit of velo being down and seeing what they were trying to do to me in the first inning, getting swings off on me early,” the lefty said. “Some teams, the sinker profiles well to. Just taking what they’re giving me.”
Crochet wasn’t the reason the Red Sox lost Sunday. But he did experience some moments unlike anything he has before.
“I felt good. I felt like I was competing early,” Crochet said. “Obviously, my velo’s down, but I felt like for the most part, until the fifth inning, I was commanding counts pretty well. Just got away from me in the fifth, threw a couple too many pitches and took the sixth off the table.”
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