ATLANTA -- May was what it was. It is over and there’s nothing the Red Sox can do about it now.
But June started with ace Garrett Crochet on the mound, and the big lefty was equal parts tone-setter and stopper.
It was a brilliant performance for Crochet (seven innings, five hits, one run, two walks, 12 strikeouts) while leading his team to a 3-1 victory in the rubber match of a three-game series against the Braves on Sunday afternoon at Truist Park.
Through six innings, the power lefty had thrown 99 pitches, right on the bubble of when manager Alex Cora usually removes him.
However, this day was different. With Greg Weissert warming in the bullpen, Crochet pitched his final frame with an attitude, essentially telling Cora to stay in the dugout. He struck out the side, capped by bouncing back from a 3-1 count against Ronald Acuña Jr. and striking out Atlanta’s star leadoff man swinging on a 91.6 mph cutter at the knees.
“He told me, ‘Let's keep going.’ And I was fired up,” Crochet said. “I was just hoping it wasn't for [the first batter] only. It’s like, 'If you're gonna send me back out, let me go to work.' And he did. And a lot of props to AC for having trust in me there.”
For emphasis, Crochet pumped his fist after his career-high 112th pitch punched out Acuña. He then ran back to the dugout, where he was greeted by a barrage of hugs and handshakes.
On a day Crochet got extended, it was hard not to flash back to his start on May 21 against the Mets, when Cora pulled him at 5 1/3 innings and 85 pitches in a tie game when a victory could have completed a three-game sweep for the Red Sox. Boston lost that game, 5-1.
The talk show and social media circuits were full of outrage, as tends to happen in Red Sox Nation.
The start against the Mets was the second in a span of three straight that Crochet was going on the standard four days of rest. On Sunday, he was on the extra day of rest the Red Sox prefer to pitch their $170-million man on. With off-days every Thursday through July 3, Boston should get more chances to protect Crochet, which can pay off with extended outings like the one on vs. Atlanta.
“We look back at the Mets one, we’ve got to pick and choose. And at that point it looked [to outsiders], ‘OK, what are they doing?’ But there's a reason,” said Cora. “[Now] we can be aggressive, understanding that we’ve got Thursdays off and he's going to get an extra day. We pushed him to the limit and he did an outstanding job.”
Crochet, who is refreshingly candid in his dealings with the media, made no bones about the fact he hated coming out against the Mets. That made Sunday sweeter.
“I thought that today was a great indication that 100 pitches, it’s [built up] as this big thing, because 100 is a big number, but I was feeling really good,” Crochet said. “So even at that pitch count, it was nice to have the communication that we had, and for me to just go get the job done.”
Trevor Story’s three-run double in the top of the first inning turned out to be all the offense the Red Sox, who went 11-17 in May, needed.
It was a welcome change in narrative for the Red Sox, as Crochet had allowed a total of five earned runs in his previous three starts, only for the club to lose all three games.
“We were joking, like that was great game planning, right? We kicked the field goal and then we played good defense,” Cora said. “But no, we need more. There were some bats in the middle of the game that we have to correct, we have to be better. I know we're young, but we expect better from this group.”
It would be hard to expect much better from Crochet. To this point of his first season with the Red Sox, he has been as advertised, notching a 1.98 ERA over 13 starts while punching out 101 in 82 innings.
“He's the ace and he acts like it,” said Story. “He wants that. And that's what the big boys do. You can see that across the game with some of the best pitchers in the game. They want the ball and they want it late. He's always had that attitude.”