Ocean Springs native and Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet said before Tuesday’s opening AL Wild Card game against the New York Yankees that he’s trying to “treat it as another start.” That’s exactly what he did, continuing a regular season’s worth of dominance and leading Boston to a 3-1 win.
Crochet struck out 11 batters, allowed four hits, and walked none over 7 2/3 innings. The only blemish on an otherwise exemplary night was a second-inning home run off the bat of Anthony Volpe. Crochet hit the reset button after the long ball and went on to retire 17 consecutive batters, giving Boston exactly what it needed for a win over its longtime rival.
Crochet is now 4-0 against the Yankees this year, with teammate and third baseman Alex Bregman saying after the game that he wasn’t surprised by the latest outing for the AL Cy Young Award contender.
“You could see it in his eyes before the game that he wanted it bad,” Bregman said. “Just a performance that big-time pitchers make.”
After manager Alex Cora decided to pull Crochet, who tossed a career-high 117 pitches in the game, All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman came in for 1 1/3 innings of work but managed to keep Sox fans on the edge of their seats.
New York loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning, a situation Chapman has rarely put himself in this season, but the fast-baller threw his way out of it with two strike outs and a pop-out.
As for Boston’s offense on Tuesday night, pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida lined a two-run single off reliever Luke Weaver that gave the Red Sox a lead in the top of the seventh. An insurance run then came off the bat of Bregman when he hit a double in the top of the ninth to score Trevor Story.
Max Fried, another AL Cy Young Award contender, pitched as well as he could have in the matchup of lefty aces. He worked 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball before the New York bullpen faltered with Weaver getting the loss.
The Red Sox, who are now 10-4 against the Yankees this season, need one more win to advance to the ALDS against another divisional rival in the Toronto Blue Jays. History is on their side, too, with the game one winner advancing in all 12 previous Wild Card series.
Boston also improved its postseason record against New York to 13-12, winning nine of the last 10 meetings.
“Hopefully, we can continue that,” manager Alex Cora said.
Game two will once again be in the Bronx with Wednesday’s first-pitch time set for 5:08 p.m. CT. It can be watched on ESPN and MLB.TV.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
